Neuroscientists from around The world collaborates in parallel with MAP for the first time, which is the entire brain activity of mice when they make decisions. This achievement involved using electrodes inserted into the brain to simultaneously record 95% of the activity of more than 500,000 neurons in rodent brain volume.
Thanks to the acquired images, researchers were able to confirm the theoretical structure of thought: there is no single field responsible for decision-making, but a coordinated process between multiple brain domains.
To illuminate all areas involved in this decision process, the team trained the mice to turn the small steering wheel to move the circles on the screen. If the shape moves correctly toward the center, the animal receives sugar water as a reward.
After an experiment with 139 mice and monitoring their brain activity with 129 laboratories, the experiment managed to map 620,000 neurons located in 279 brain regions, and then analysed a subset of 75,000 well-dissolved neurons. In the process of thinking, in the study of the brain and its neural network, the resolution of the neural maps generated is unprecedented. Furthermore, it represents a milestone in terms of the observed sample type and the extent of brain regions covered. So far, small parts of the entire fruit fly, fish larvae, or more complex brain have been drawn.
Decision-making is a holistic process
The results are published in two document In “Nature”. Although the participating scientists acknowledge that the data are not definite, they represent the starting point for research on decision-making neural. The value of this data is that the neural pathways to decision making are now clearer, which will allow scientists to better understand complex thinking abilities and perform more advanced analyses. Additionally, the dataset is publicly available.
“These initial conclusions confirm various aspects of brain function that have been obtained from the more limited research available. It seems like we doubt how the film will end without seeing the ending; now they have shown us it,” Juan Lerma, a research professor at the Spanish National Research Council, Tell the Science Media Center españa. (Lerma was not involved in the study.) “In short, the data show that in decision making, many brain regions are involved, exceeding expectations, and in sensory processing, the region is more unique.”
The adult human brain contains about 86 billion neurons, each capable of establishing thousands of synaptic connections with other cells. Although it weighs about 1.4 kg, the human brain consumes 20% of the body’s total energy when it is still, with a high proportion of its size. Although today’s supercomputers perform better than the brain in numerical calculations, they have not yet matched their energy efficiency or ability to learn, adapt and process in parallel. Neuroscience has a long way to go to be able to fully map the neural processes of human decision-making, but such research brings us one step closer.
This article was originally published in wired español and has been translated into Spanish.
