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from the old-fuzzy-televison-keeps-hanging-around dept. According to this release at Science Daily, Yale School of Medicine researchers have partially overturned a long held conviction that each of the brain's 100 billion neurons communicate rigidly by a digital code. Their finding reveals instead that brain cells use a mix of analog and digital coding at the same time. Analog systems represent signals continuously, while digital systems represent signals in the timing of pulses. Traditionally, many human-designed circuits functioned exclusively in analog or in digital modes. David McCormick, professor in the Department of Neurobiology and senior author of the study, said: "This study reveals that the brain is very sophisticated in its operation, using a code that is more efficient than previously appreciated. This has widespread implications, not only for our basic understanding of how the brain operates, but also in our understanding of neuronal dysfunction. It's as if everyone thought communication in the brain was like a telegraph, but actually it turned out to be more similar to a telephone". The first author is Yousheng Shu of Yale. Co-authors are Andrea Hasenstaub, Alvaro Duque and Yuguo Yu of Yale. Published in Nature online April 12, 2006 (DOI 10.1038/nature04720). http://www.yale.edu/opa/newsr/06-04-12-04.all.html http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/04/060412223937.htm < | >
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Brain Communicates In Analog And Digital Modes Simultaneously
