A new study has shown that monkeys that were defeated in rock, paper, scissors challenged experienced feelings of loss and regret.

The findings, published in science journal Neuron, showed that the primates can experience regret and understand how different actions might lead to alternative outcomes.

Rather than just conduct monkey versions of the popular childhood game (no harm in that), the studies were conducted to shed light on the physiological activity of human brains that are experiencing depression.

"When people have regret, they're thinking about what could have happened; it's about imagining what could have happened," said Daeyeol Lee, professor of neurobiology at Yale University and co-author of the study.

"The reason you do this is because it actually broadens the potential for learning tremendously. It seems like such a fundamental question that I would be surprised if it were exclusive to humans."

Even though the primate have fantastic opposable thumbs such as our own, researchers instead used a computer simulation of rock, paper, scissors. Monkeys that won the game were rewarded with large juices, while their smaller portions of juice were doled out in the event of a draw. A monkey that lost received no juice reward whatsoever.

Surprisingly, it was observed that the defeated monkey would pick whichever symbol had won in the previous round, demonstrating that they had felt regret for their decision and envisioned an alternative outcome by picking the previous game's winning choice.

While the researchers work is incredibly noble and could lead to an amazing scientific breakthrough, we at JOE are outraged and would even pay good money to watch that monkey rock, paper, scissors tournament in action.