Jun 21, 2023 11:11 AM
https://www.livescience.com/health/neuro...-cognition
INTRO: Mysterious, spiral signals have been discovered in the human brain, and the scientists who found the swirls think they could help to organize complex brain activity.
The signals, which appeared as swirling spirals of brain waves across the outer layer of the brain, were discovered in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans of 100 young adults, and appeared both when they were resting and working on tasks.
The exact purpose of these vortices is unknown, but their discoverers think the spiral signals might be used to link different parts of the brain and help process information faster. These vortices may even be impaired by brain diseases such as dementia, and could serve as inspiration for advanced computers that emulate the complex processes of the human mind. The researchers published their findings June 15 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
"Much like vortices act in turbulence, the spirals engage in intricate interactions, playing a crucial role in organising the brain's complex activities," Pulin Gong, an associate professor of physics at the University of Sydney, said in a statement. "The intricate interactions among multiple co-existing spirals could allow neural computations to be conducted in a distributed and parallel manner, leading to remarkable computational efficiency." (MORE - details)
INTRO: Mysterious, spiral signals have been discovered in the human brain, and the scientists who found the swirls think they could help to organize complex brain activity.
The signals, which appeared as swirling spirals of brain waves across the outer layer of the brain, were discovered in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans of 100 young adults, and appeared both when they were resting and working on tasks.
The exact purpose of these vortices is unknown, but their discoverers think the spiral signals might be used to link different parts of the brain and help process information faster. These vortices may even be impaired by brain diseases such as dementia, and could serve as inspiration for advanced computers that emulate the complex processes of the human mind. The researchers published their findings June 15 in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.
"Much like vortices act in turbulence, the spirals engage in intricate interactions, playing a crucial role in organising the brain's complex activities," Pulin Gong, an associate professor of physics at the University of Sydney, said in a statement. "The intricate interactions among multiple co-existing spirals could allow neural computations to be conducted in a distributed and parallel manner, leading to remarkable computational efficiency." (MORE - details)