New Theory: Cognition, Consciousness From Analog Computation
MIT researchers have proposed a new theory suggesting that the brain uses traveling waves of rhythmic neural activity to perform analog computations. This model argues that these waves coordinate neural networks more efficiently than traditional circuit-based models for rapid, real-time processing.
Why it matters
Understanding the fundamental physics of how the brain processes information could lead to breakthroughs in neuroscience and the development of more efficient, brain-inspired computing architectures.
A new theory, published in The Journal of Neuroscience by three scientists in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT, offers an explanation of how the brain produces cognition and consciousness: It uses traveling waves of rhythmic neural activity to coordinate nimble neural networks with analog computations.
The metaphor that the brain operates with "circuits" is incomplete, says Picower Professor Earl K. Miller , the paper's senior author. Indubitably, the brain's physically connected circuits provide the infrastructure to store our memories and represent our ongoing needs and goals. But when we need to make improvised use of that knowledge in the rapid-fire, anything-goes sensory context the world constantly throws our way, we can't just depend on the relatively slow chemical process of rewiring those circuit connections called "synapses," he says.
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