28.01.2010

Press Release: No silent mail in the brain

I hear screeching tires, see a car approaching in the corner of my eye - and quickly jump back onto the sidewalk. The fact that I escaped unscathed is thanks to the millions of nerve cells in my brain that process the various pieces of information and translate them into adequate instructions for action (Press release in German only).

Communication between neurons takes place via small voltage pulses, the action potentials. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, together with colleagues from Baylor College of Medicine (USA), have shown that neighboring neurons are less strongly correlated. This could imply that information processing is much more efficient than previously thought. Thus, a smaller number of neurons is needed to process large amounts of data (Science, January 28, 2010).

Press release for download in German only. Pressemitteilung zum Download nur auf Deutsch.

Organization:

• Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience

Reseach Group: Computational Neuroscience

Contact: Prof. Dr. Matthias Bethge

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