Biological components are less reliable than electrical ones, and rather than instantaneously receive the incoming signals, the signals arrive with a variety of delays. This forces the brain to cope with said delays by having each neuron integrate the incoming signals over time and fire afterwards, as well as using a population of neurons, instead of one, to overcome neuronal cells that temporarily don’t fire.
Biological components are less reliable than electrical ones, and rather than instantaneously receive the incoming signals, the signals arrive with a variety of delays. This forces the brain to cope with said delays by having each neuron integrate the incoming signals over time and fire afterwards, as well as using a population of neurons, instead of one, to overcome neuronal cells that temporarily don’t fire.
It seems like delays are nothing but an unavoidable disadvantage, slowing the brain and reducing its efficiency, but could delays actually be a benefit to brain learning?
In a new study published in the journal Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, scientists from Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Physics and Gonda (Goldschmied) Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center have answered the question with a resounding « yes.
