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The theoretical setting of hierarchical Bayesian inference is gaining acceptance as a framework for understanding cortical computation.

Friston recently expanded on this to suggest an inversion method for hierarchical Bayesian dynamic models and to point out that the brain, in principle, has the infrastructure needed to invert hierarchical dynamic models [6].

In a recent review, Hegde and Felleman pointed out that the “Bayesian framework is not yet a neural model. [The Bayesian] framework currently helps explain the computations that underlie various brain functions, but not how the brain implements these computations” [2]. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap by deriving a computational model for cortical circuits based on the mathematics of Bayesian belief propagation in the context of a particular Bayesian framework called Hierarchical Temporal Memory (HTM).

Their discovery reveals a critical period during which a LIM homeodomain transcription factor known as Lhx2 decides over the progenitors' regional destiny: Once the window of opportunity closes, their fate is sealed.

Our task involved both reading and speaking, and we found that aspects of word identity, grammar and pronunciation are all computed within Broca's area.

An MIT team led by Institute Professor Ann Graybiel has found groups of neurons in the primate brain that code time with extreme precision.

The neurons are located in the prefrontal cortex and the striatum, both of which play important roles in learning, movement and thought control.

The research team trained two macaque monkeys to perform a simple eye-movement task. After receiving the "go" signal, the monkeys were free to perform the task at their own speed. The researchers found neurons that consistently fired at specific times -- 100 milliseconds, 110 milliseconds, 150 milliseconds and so on -- after the "go" signal.

One advantage of nanoscale electrodes is that they can register and stimulate the tiniest components of the brain.

A Harvard Medical School study last year found that one blindsight patient could maneuver down a hallway filled with obstacles, even though the subject could not actually see. Schwiedrzik said the new research may help blindsight patients gain conscious awareness of what their minds can see, and he suggested that new research should address whether the brains in blindsight patients and people with normal vision process the information the same way.