Science Peeks Inside American Poker Players Brains

American scientists at Duke University decided to take a profound scientific approach to poker and research how players utilize their brain to master the game.

The research showed that humans use a special region of the brain to make bluffing calls. Moreover, the brain reacts differently in case the games happen at one of the online poker sites in United States or face-to-face in a land-based poker room.

The University researches utilized a highly sophisticated neural imaging and scanning technology, which took a closer look at neural reactions of poker players in a game against a computer and against a human opponent. The test games were held in full compliance with American gambling laws.

The end-result of the study revealed that the temporal-parietal junction of the brain is holding the unique information on whether a poker player may bluff or not against a particular opponent.

Duke University research director, Scott Huettel, had the following comments for United States gambling news: “Often the brain is considered to have an entire ‘social network’ comprising a number of regions that help us interact with others in social contexts.”

He went on to add: “Our analyses looked at all of those regions and found that all but one responded in essentially the same way against the human and computer opponents.”

Scott Huettel revealed that the research team was surprised the temporal-parietal junction was the one making exclusive decision for poker players on how to behave against opponents.

The lead researcher at Duke University, McKell Carter, explained that the brain region in question is located on the perimeter of the brain and is combining all the data collected by attention and biology.

Carter also noted that because humans tend to be social, they pay more attention to human players rather than to computer opponents.