The brain does not only cooperate; it also competes. So determines an international study by the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, Pompeu Fabra University and the Montreal Neurological Institute in Canada, published in Nature Neuroscience . The study reveals that the human brain—as well as those of macaques and mice—functions thanks to a constant balance between these two forces . Using advanced whole-brain computer modelling, the researchers have shown that, while specialized circuits cooperate internally, there are long-range competitive interactions among them to manage limited resources. Replicating this balance could bring us closer to the creation of digital copies of an individual’s brain, a key breakthrough in precision medicine and for developing AI models with greater computational capacity.
Models with competitive interactions – which draw on the everyday experience that we cannot pay attention to everything at once – consistently outperform purely cooperative ones. This explains the joint work of specialized regions for cognition and behaviour. According to the authors, excess cooperation can lead to states of excessive synchronization that do not occur in reality. In contrast, competition acts as a stabilizing force : it prevents uncontrolled activity and allows different brain systems to take turns in shaping the brain’s overall dynamics.
The analysis of more than 14,000 neuroimaging studies has revealed that models with competitive interactions generate activity patterns that are more similar to real cognitive processes such as those involved in attention and memory. “Competition between circuits allows certain networks to take priority over others depending on what is relevant at any given moment, which explains phenomena such as decision-making”, explains Gustavo Deco , ICREA research professor at Pompeu Fabra University, one of the study’s senior authors.
“This suggests that competition is crucial for enabling the brain to flexibly activate appropriate combinations of regions: a hallmark of intelligent behaviour”, says University of Oxford professor Morten Kringelbach , also a senior author of the study.
Using data on a person’s brain structure and function, this new model can reproduce the unique activity patterns of an individual’s brain, better capturing what distinguishes one person’s brain from another’s. This brings us closer to having “ a realistic digital twin of a given brain : one that matches your brain better than any other brain”, according to the study’s lead author, Dr Andrea Luppi of the University of Oxford.
According to Deco , this model not only allows a brain to be digitally reproduced but it “provides far better information for predicting diseases and symptoms than traditional measures”. As reported by Luppi , besides diagnosis, “these models could be used to simulate an individual’s brain response to stimulation, medication or a disease, tailoring therapy to the brain of each individual”.
The fact that the cooperative-competitive architecture is consistently found in humans, macaques and mice suggests that it is a fundamental characteristic of mammalian brain organization. More broadly, it could reflect fundamental principles of intelligent systems operation.
The study also reveals that networks combining cooperation and competition have greater computational capabilities in neuromorphic computing (brain-inspired AI). These networks process and integrate information more effectively, confirming that the balance between the two forces is essential for intelligent computation.
Luppi AI, Sanz Perl Y, Vohryzek J, Ali H, Mediano PAM, Rosas FE, et al. Competitive interactions shape mammalian brain network dynamics and computation. Nature Neuroscience. 2026 Mar 11;29(4):915–33. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-026-02205-3
Nature Neuroscience
Computational simulation/modeling
People
Competitive interactions shape mammalian brain network dynamics and computation
11-Mar-2026
The authors declare no competing interests.