Research Challenges Brain’s Computational Power
New findings suggest that the human brain may not be as powerful as previously thought. According to researchers, the brain processes sensory data at a rate of only 10 bits per second, despite having over 85 billion neurons. This is millions of times slower than the rate at which the body’s sensory systems gather data, which is a billion bits per second.
The findings, published in the scientific journal Neuron, raise a paradox: what is the brain doing to filter all this information? Researchers believe that this “speed limit” in the brain is likely a result of the evolutionary history of early animals with a nervous system. These creatures used their brains primarily for navigation and likely only had the capacity to process one thought or action at a time.
The discovery suggests that humans are relatively slow thinkers who are unable to process multiple thoughts in parallel. This limitation may prevent us from exploring multiple possible scenarios simultaneously, such as a chess player envisioning a set of future moves. In contrast, machines can process information much faster, with computing power doubling every two years.
Researchers believe that eventually, computers will be able to perform any task that humans can, and possibly even surpass our abilities. However, the “speed limit” in the brain also raises questions about the evolutionary trade-offs that led to our current cognitive abilities.
