Ms. Lulu Gao (3rd-year doctoral student, Human Information Science Research Area, Iida Lab) and Mr. Shize Pan (2nd-year doctoral student, Human Information Science Research Area, Iida Lab) received the Best Paper Award at Computers and Games 2026 (CG 2026) .

Computers and Games 2026 (CG 2026) was an international conference on computers and games, held on June 19-20, 2026, at Maastricht University in Maastricht, the Netherlands. The conference is affiliated with the International Computer Games Association (ICGA).
CG 2026 provides an international forum for researchers working on artificial intelligence, computer game playing, game theory, and related fields. The conference brings together experts from academia and industry to present and discuss the latest advances in game AI and computational intelligence. Topics include search algorithms, machine learning, reinforcement learning, human-computer interaction, and the scientific study of games. The conference proceedings will be published by Springer as a volume in its Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series.

＊Reference：ICGA

■Date Awarded 
June 20, 2026 

■Title
Inter-subjective Gravity: Predicting Synchronization Depth in Asymmetric Interactions

■Authors
Lulu Gao, Shize Pan and Hiroyuki Iida

■Abstract 
The work builds on the Gravity in Mind theory developed in Professor Iida's laboratory, which views human thinking as a kind of motion that moves toward a conclusion, much like an object falling under gravity. Extending this idea to two players, the study proposes a new framework called Inter-subjective Gravity (ISG). The central idea is that when two subjective minds engage in a game, an intellectual attraction forms between them and draws the interaction towards a shared objective conclusion. By describing this attraction with two quantities, Interaction Inertia and Resonance Coefficient, the study shows that the natural endpoint of a match can be predicted in an asymmetric match.
Tested on Shogi AI data, the framework predicted the moment of resignation with high accuracy. This suggests that resignation is not simply a stopping rule, but the point where two players reach the same conclusion. The study offers a new way to understand how two minds, human or artificial, arrive at a shared understanding, with possible applications in human and AI collaboration.

■Comment
We are truly honored to receive the Best Paper Award at CG 2026.This research is a further extension of the work carried out in our lab, continuing the line from Game Refinement Theory to Gravity in Mind Theory, and now to Inter-subjective Gravity. This is not only a study in informatics, but also a contribution from the sciences to a question long discussed in philosophy: the relationship between the subjective and the objective. To have this work recognized at an international conference of such standing is a great encouragement to us. Above all, I am deeply grateful to Professor Hiroyuki Iida. Throughout this research, he guided me day after day with remarkable patience, and his steady encouragement carried me through the moments when the ideas felt too abstract to hold onto. I also want to thank everyone in our laboratory, whose accumulated work over the years made this study possible, including my labmate Shize Pan. This award is a shared honor that belongs to our whole laboratory. Last but not least, I am thankful to JAIST for providing the environment and support that allowed us to pursue this research freely.

August 24, 2026