Scientists have discovered that the human brain is capable of building structures in up to 11 dimensions. The human brain can think and create in up to 11 dimensions, according to a study that was recently published in Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience.
The Blue Brain Project claims that the dimensions are not
understood in the way that most of us would typically think of a dimension. As
part of the Blue Brain Project, researchers learned fascinating new
information on the complexity of the human brain.
We discovered a world that we had never envisioned, according to
neuroscientist Henry Markram, director of the Blue Brain Project and professor
at the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. Even in a tiny portion of the
brain, there are tens of millions of these things spread across seven
dimensions. We even discovered structures in certain networks with up to eleven
dimensions.
Once scientists researched the human brain, they discovered that conventional mathematical viewpoints were useless and inefficient.
The image attempts to capture a multi-dimensional universe of
buildings and locations—something that cannot be seen. On the left, you can see
a computerized reproduction of a segment of the neocortex, the most developed
part of the brain. Constructions with dimensions ranging from one to seven and
beyond are illustrated on the right using a number of forms
of varied sizes and geometries. A group of multi-dimensional holes or cavities
are represented by the central "black-hole".
Researchers from the Blue Brain Project contend that clusters of neurons
connected into such holes constitute the crucial link between brain structure
and function in a recent work published in Frontiers in Computational
Neuroscience. This image is from the Blue Brain Project.
The high-dimensional structures and spaces that we can now plainly
perceive cannot be detected by mathematics that is often used to research networks, according to Markram.
Instead, researchers chose to study algebraic topology. In the field of mathematics known as algebraic topology, topological spaces are investigated using methods from abstract algebra. Scientists from the Blue Brain Project collaborated with mathematicians Kathryn Hess from EPFL and Ran Levi from Aberdeen University to use this methodology in their most recent research.
Algebraic topology, according to Professor Hess, "is like a
telescope and microscope at the same time. It has the ability to zoom in
on networks to spot hidden features like trees in a forest and simultaneously observe open
areas like clearings. The scientists discovered that cliques of neurons, which are brain cells that
transmit impulses, build the structures of the brain. A new entity is created as a
result of the specific connections that every neuron in the group has with each
other. The 'dimension' of an object grows as the clique's number of neurons
does.
The architecture of a virtual brain that the researchers created with the aid of computers was modeled using algebraic topography. They then conducted trials on actual brain tissue to corroborate their findings. The scientists found that when more inputs were added to the virtual brain, cliques with progressively HIGHER dimensions began to develop. Investigators also found gaps between the cliques.
According to Ran Levi of Aberdeen University, the brain processes information when high-dimensional holes are visible. This indicates that the network's neurons respond to inputs in a highly ordered way. It appears as though the brain builds and then destroys a tower out of various three-dimensional building pieces, starting with rods (1D), then moving on to planks (2D), then cubes (3D), and then moving on to more sophisticated geometries with 4D, 5D, etc. The way that activity moves through the brain is like watching a multi-dimensional sandcastle emerge from the sand and then fall apart.
The most recent knowledge on the human brain offers
never-before-seen insights into how the brain functions. However, according to
scientists, it is still unknown how the cliques and cavities form in such a
peculiar way.
Where does the brain'store' memories? is one of neuroscience's greatest mysteries, and the new research may one day shed light on it.
Reference: Peer reviewed research
.jpg)
.png)
0 Comments