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Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 26, 2026

New Variations for Strategy Set-shifting in the Rat

New Variations for Strategy Set-shifting in the Rat

Published on: January 23, 2017

Right hemisphere brain damage impairs strategy updating.

James Danckert¹, Elisabeth Stöttinger, Nadine Quehl

¹Department of Psychology, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, N2L 3G1 Ontario, Canada. jdancker@uwaterloo.ca

Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)

|December 20, 2011

Summary

Right-brain-damaged patients struggle to update mental models when environmental strategies change. This impaired strategy updating was linked to specific brain lesions, unlike left-brain-damaged patients.

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuropsychology
Behavioral Neurology

Background:

Human behavior relies on dynamic mental models of the environment.
These models require continuous updating based on new information to adapt to changing circumstances.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of brain damage in updating mental models.
To compare strategy updating abilities in right-brain-damaged (RBD) and left-brain-damaged (LBD) patients.

Main Methods:

Participants (RBD, LBD, and controls) played "rock, paper, scissors" against a computer with a changing strategy.
Performance was assessed by detecting strategy deviations and updating their own strategy.
Lesion analyses were conducted for impaired patients.

Main Results:

RBD patients, particularly those with neglect, showed significant impairment in detecting and adapting to strategy changes.
Left-brain-damaged patients tended to "maximize" choices, while controls "matched" the opponent's strategy.
Severe impairment in RBD patients correlated with insula and putamen lesions.

Conclusions:

Right-brain damage impairs the ability to update mental models in response to environmental changes.
Specific brain regions, including the insula and putamen, may be crucial for adaptive strategy updating.