Detecting patterns
Detecting patterns is an important part of how humans learn and make decisions. Now, researchers have seen what is happening in people’s brains as they first find patterns in information they are presented.
Findings showed that the brain processes pattern learning in a different way from another common way that people learn, called probabilistic learning.
Researchers showed study participants 50 series of 12 images that included various combinations of three photos – a hand, a face and a landscape – sometimes in a pattern and sometimes in a random order. Participants were in an MRI machine that showed what parts of their brain were active as they chose what photo they thought was coming up next.
“We could see what parts of the brain were activated when participants figured out that there was a pattern – or realized that there was no pattern,” said Ian Krajbich, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology and economics at The Ohio State University.