Introducing the brain: neurons not just fire away (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, June 13, 2022, 23:45 (682 days ago) @ David Turell

They are lots more complex:

https://mindmatters.ai/2022/05/new-learning-model-for-brain-overturns-70-years-of-theory/

"According to new research, when learning takes place, it’s not just the synapses (by which neurons send signals to each other) but the whole communication structure (the dendrites) of the neuron that changes. The researchers compare the synapses to leaves and the dendrites to a tree.

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"In an article published today in Scientific Reports, researchers from Bar-Ilan University in Israel reveal that the brain learns completely differently than has been assumed since the 20th century. The new experimental observations suggest that learning is mainly performed in neuronal dendritic trees, where the trunk and branches of the tree modify their strength, as opposed to modifying solely the strength of the synapses (dendritic leaves), as was previously thought. These observations also indicate that the neuron is actually a much more complex, dynamic and computational element than a binary element that can fire or not. Just one single neuron can realize deep learning algorithms, which previously required an artificial complex network consisting of thousands of connected neurons and synapses.

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"Incidentally, they also note, “The brain’s clock is a billion times slower than existing parallel GPUs, but with comparable success rates in many perceptual tasks.” That suggests that there is a lot else we don’t know."

Comment: not surprising. There is alot more to learn about the complexities of the brain. There is no way this happened by chance