Modulation of the motor area activity during observation of a competitive game

Watching competitive games is a pervasive entertainment in humans and likely to be facilitated by our social cognitive abilities. We investigated the brain activity during observation of a competitive game by using near-infrared spectroscopy. The result showed that activity in the motor area was significantly greater when the individual's favored player won, compared with when the same player lost. The motor area was also activated when the individuals themselves performed the same action, showing the mirror neuron system property. Our results first showed that the motor area activity during observation of competitive games was modulated by the outcome of the game. We suggest that the observer's brain is more likely to share the winner's internal motor representation than that of the loser.