Tracking the Brain's Ability to Bluff

In a study published today, Montague and collaborators found that people take one of three strategies when playing a simple economics game, and that specific parts of the brain seem to be more active in people who choose to bluff. A second paper published last month shows how the strategies chosen by healthy people playing a similar game change depending on the mental status of their opponent. Researchers ultimately hope to create an automated version of this approach and use it to diagnose disease. The strategists' approach required the greatest mentalizing trying to get into the mind of the other player.  But the reality was the opposite; they suggested relatively high prices when the actual value was low, likely stopping that sale. But they surmised that this would increase their credibility in the other rounds of the game; thus, when the private value was high, they could give low suggested prices. "Bluffing is a specific feature of theory of mind," explains Montague. "It touches on the capacity to model other people; included in your model of me is your model of my model of you." He notes that while none of the groups had significant differences in IQ, having an above-average IQ was necessary to be a strategist.