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Some of us would go to any extent to win or excel. For some people, winning isn't everything and are happy participating or just being a part of the group. So what exactly does make some people competitive and some others not? 

Two researchers from University of Otago perhaps can explain what exactly in the brain drives competitive behavior. 

Dr Kristin Hillman and Professor David Bilkey from the Department of Psychology, have found that neurons in a specific region of the frontal cortex called the anterior cingulate cortex, become active during decisions involving competitive effort. 

The neurons in this region are responsible for deciding if an action demands competition, if yes, what the intensity of the competition is and most importantly, if it is worth achieving an end award, the researchers found, reports Medical Xpress. 

This is the first study to examine how competitive behavior is encoded by neurons in the brain. 

For the study, the researchers conducted the experiment on rats where they gave them two options to choose from. Option A, which was an easily achievable small reward, and option B, which required competition against a peer, but was a bigger reward. The situation is similar to the decision that human beings have to face every day to ensure cost-benefit. 

The results revealed that in foraging rats, certain cortical neurons showed more activity when competitive scenarios like option B were considered and pursued. 

According to Hillman, the activation of these neurons seemed responsible to encode when it was worth competing and when it was too risky. For example, when the competitor was much dominant and aggressive, there was a change in the neural activity patterns. 

"The resulting signal could be important for both driving competitive behavior and also steering us away from risky situations where, although the reward might be large, the potential cost is too high." 

"In theory, it also gives us a glimpse into what might be going on in our own brains, whether we are highly competitive Olympic athletes or just vying for the last treadmill at the gym," says Dr Hillman.

The study appears online in the journal Nature Neuroscience.