What Chinese Scientists Learned Teaching Two Monkeys to Play Pac-Man

"What can scientists learn by teaching two monkeys to play Pac-Man?" asks the South China Morning Post.

A team of neuroscientists from the academy said they used the classic video game to look at the way the primate made decisions. The first study of its kind shows that monkeys can use strategies to solve problems. The results were published in a peer-reviewed journal. The scientists used artificial intelligence to come up with a statistical model to find out if the monkey could be broken down into a set of strategies. The monkeys were trained to use a joystick to navigate a maze and avoid ghosts. The monkeys got fruit juice as a reward. The monkeys understood the basic elements of the game because they tended to choose the direction with the largest local reward and knew how to react to ghosts in different modes. The researchers found that the monkeys used a single dominant strategy and only focused on a subset of the game aspects at a time. The study was significant because it was quantitative and examined complex tasks. The findings paved the way for further understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying sophisticated cognitive functions.

Plus, teaching monkeys to play Pac-Man sounds like fun.

I wonder how they feel about Donkey Kong.