“I Am Neo!” Programming the Brain to Fight Like the Matrix Might Actually Be Possible

In a series of experiments, mice that watched others fight showed brain patterns similar to those of better fighters without direct participation, potentially paving the way for programming human brains to fight like Neo in the movie The Matrix. The Princeton research team found that the changes were not permanent, with the trained mice losing their enhanced fighting abilities within a few days after the experiments were completed. This finding suggests that observational training may need to be reinforced in ways similar to traditional training methods.

• The study involved three groups of mice: fighters, spectators, and novices.
• Fighters participated in three daily sparring sessions lasting 10 minutes.
• Spectators viewed the combat from a raised platform with a clear barrier.
• Novice mice played with a stuffed toy mouse and did not witness any fights.
• After the eight-day trial period, all mice fought "hard-to-beat" opponents.
• Spectators learned to move like fighting mice, orienting and attending to attacks.
• Fighter mice attacked tougher opponents more quickly than novice mice.
• Spectator mice mimicked this behavior, attacking tougher opponents more quickly than novice mice.
• Fighter and spectator mice spent less time with their backs turned to opponents.
• The team noted that the "choreography" between fighting mice and spectating mice was similar, and notably different than that of novice mice.
• Brain activity was "mirrored" in both previously studied brain areas related to aggression.
• Spectator mice's brains fired in patterns "much like a fighter's," but the mirroring was not perfect.
• When spectators watched fights, their brains' excitatory activity more closely matched that of the novice mice's brains.
• The team noted that the match was not 100%, with the spectator mice's brains being "kind of midway between the truly experienced fighters and the naive animals."
• The research team said this result suggests that fighting or spectating did not make the mice inherently more violent.

The research team suggested that the findings could be applied to human brains, potentially allowing for the programming of human brains to fight like Neo in The Matrix. The experiments did not make any of the mice more aggressive or more violent, "just more prepared." The study was performed with mice, not human brains, but Falkner suspected some of the brain circuit changes observed in the experiments "are conserved in mice and humans." The findings suggest that exposure to violence might lead to circuit changes that could be adaptive in a violent situation, but not necessarily in non-violent situations.

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