Scientists discovered they could influence people's choices without offering better rewards – simply by offering them patterns. The research, published in Nature Communications by Haran Shani-Narkiss, Baruch Eitam, and Oren Amsalem (2025), emerged from an international competition to influence human preferences.
Researchers set up an online game where participants chose repeatedly between two options, each offering identical rewards. The twist? One option delivered rewards in a predictable pattern, while the other appeared random. The winning algorithm outperformed all other approaches in the competition.
The winning strategy led participants to prefer the patterned option over the random one by a ratio of 2:1, even though this preference proved relatively disadvantageous. "This reveals something fundamental about human nature," explains Shani-Narkiss and colleagues. "We're drawn to patterns and predictability, even when they don't benefit us materially."
The researchers admit they still aren't completely sure which specific aspects of the pattern made it so attractive to people. Was it the rhythm of the rewards? The growing intervals between rewards that people could predict? The satisfaction of figuring out the pattern? These questions still need more research to understand exactly what makes our brains so drawn to patterns and structure.
Previously:
• What are these mysterious maze patterns at the bottom of a massive Chinese lake?
