California, Nov. 29 -- When two people work on a shared task, they process information alike, a new study revealed.

Humans rely on collaboration for everything from raising food to raising children. But to cooperate successfully, people need to ensure they are seeing the same things and working within the same rules. We must agree that the red fruits are the ones that are ripe and that we will leave the green fruits alone.

The study, published in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, was led by Denise Moerel and colleagues from Western Sydney University in Australia.

Behavioural collaboration requires people to think and act the same way and to follow the same instructions. To better understand people's cognitive processes during a sha...