Summary: A new research reveals that people think at a rate of 10 bits per second, while sensory systems approach a billion bits per second—100 million times faster. This demonstrates a paradox: given that sensory input is so great, why does the brain process ideas so gently?
Researchers propose that the body’s development prioritized focusing on one “paths” of idea, akin to navigating philosophical idea spaces. These results challenge conceptions of brain-computer interfaces enabling faster conversation, as the body’s natural speed restrict persists.
Important Information:
- Thought Speed: People believe processes occur at 10 bits per second, much slower than sensory systems ‘ billion-bit output level.
- Head Development: The mind’s single-focus requirement may stem from evolutionary adjustments for routing and decision-making.
- Neural Interfaces: Strong brain-computer interfaces may also operate at the brain’s normal 10 bits-per-second speed.
Origin: CalTech
Caltech experts have quantified the rate of mortal thought: a rate of 10 bits per second. However, our body ‘ visual systems process information about our surroundings at a rate of a billion bits per second, which is 100 million times faster than our thought processes.
Why can we only think one item at a time while our visual techniques process hundreds of sources at when, according to this new study?
The research was conducted in the laboratory of , Markus Meister , ( PhD ‘ 87 ), the Anne P. and Benjamin F. Biaggini Professor of Biological Sciences, and it was led by graduate student Jieyu Zheng. A document describing the investigation appears in the journal , Neuron , on December 17.
A little is a basic system of data in technology. A common Wi-Fi network, for example, can practice 50 million bits per second.
In the new research, Zheng applied knowledge idea techniques from the field of information concept to a large body of scientific literature on human behaviors like playing video games, reading, and writing, to estimate that people can think at a rate of 10 bits per second, according to the new study.
” This is an extremely small quantity”, Meister says.
We are using only 10 parts of the trillion that our senses are absorbing to interpret the world around us and make decisions every second. This raises a conundrum: What is the mental doing to screen all of this info”?
There are over 85 billion cells in the , mind, with one second of these dedicated to high-level wondering and located in the brain.  , Individual neurons , are powerful knowledge computers and can easily transfer more than 10 bits per second of knowledge.
But why don’t they? And why, if our thinking moves so slowly, do we still have so many?
Meister suggests that neuroscience research should take into account these paradoxes in future studies in light of the discovery of this” speed limit” in the brain.
Another conundrum raised by the new study is: Why does the brain process a thought simultaneously as do our sensory systems do, rather than simultaneously?
For instance, a chess player who is considering a set of future moves can only look at one possible sequence at once rather than several at once. This is, according to the study, perhaps attributable to how our brains evolved.
According to research, the first living things with nervous systems used their brains to move toward food and avoid predators primarily for navigation. If these straightforward systems of thought were the basis for our brains, it would make sense that we can only follow one “path” of thought at a time.
Zheng and Meister write that “human thinking can be seen as a form of navigation through a space of abstract concepts.”
The team emphasizes the need for further investigation into how the brain’s architecture is encased in this constraint, one train of thought at a time.
Zheng and Meister write that “our ancestors have chosen an ecological niche where the world is slow enough to allow for survival.”
” In fact, the 10 bits per second are needed only in worst-case situations, and most of the time our environment changes at a much more leisurely pace”.
Some science-fiction futuristic scenarios may be thrown out by the new quantification of the rate of human thought. Tech moguls have suggested building a direct interface between computers and human brains to allow people to communicate more quickly than they would with typing or conversing.
However, the new study suggests that our brains would communicate with a neural interface at the same rate of 10 bits per second.
The Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain and the National Institutes of Health provided funding, according to  . The , Tianqiao, and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech are affiliated faculty members with Markus Meister.
About this news about neuroscience research
Author: Lori Dajose
Source: CalTech
Contact: Lori Dajose – CalTech
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Closed access.
” The unbearable slowness of being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s”? by Markus Meister and others. Neuron
Abstract
The unbearable slowness of being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s?
This article addresses the neural complication that causes human behavior to slow down. A human being can process about 10 bits of information per second. In comparison, our sensory systems gather data at , ∼10 to the power of 9 bits/s.
What neural substrate limits the pace of our existence, and why the stark contrast between these figures is unfathomable? Why do 10 bits/s of processing require billions of neurons in the brain? Why can we only consider one thing at a time?
The brain seems to operate in two distinct modes: the “outer” brain handles fast high-dimensional sensory and motor signals, whereas the “inner” brain processes the reduced few bits needed to control behavior.
We offer new research directions to address this problem by pointing out that the large neuron numbers in the outer brain are corroborating one another.
