Artificial Intelligence Research

On the other hand, Shane observes that people who are working on the program of Friendly AI do not expect to have made significant progress in the same timescale: By the early 2020’s, there will be no practical theory of Friendly AI.

"No, no, it's not a cat brain. A cat-SCALE simulation."

The brain first perceives changes in visual input (local motion) in the primary visual cortex. The local motion signals are then integrated in the later visual processing stages and interpreted as global motion in the higher-level processes. But when subjects in a recent experiment using moving dots were asked to detect global motion (the overall direction of the dots moving together), the results show that their learning relied on more local motion processes (the movement of dots in small areas) than global motion areas.

show that the improvement in detection of global motion is not due to learning of the global motion but to learning of local motion of the moving dots in the test.

Miller and Cohen propose an Integrative Theory of Prefrontal Cortex Function. The two theorize that “cognitive control stems from the active maintenance of patterns of activity in the prefrontal cortex that represents goals and means to achieve them. They provide bias signals to other brain structures whose net effect is to guide the flow of activity along neural pathways that establish the proper mappings between inputs, internal states, and outputs needed to perform a given task” (Miller & Cohen, 2001). Essentially the two theorize that the prefrontal cortex guides the inputs and connections which allows for cognitive control of our actions.

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.

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.

Зона Брока оказалась гораздо более функциональной, чем предполагали учёные. Она ответственна за выполнение многих шагов, от чтения до произнесения слов. Ранее же считалось, что она участвует исключительно в речевой функции, а за восприятие слов отвечает другая область, известная как зона Вернике (Wernicke area).

При этом выяснилось, что различные свои функции данная зона активирует не одновременно, а последовательно. К примеру, она распознаёт слово за 200 миллисекунд после того, как глаз видит его. Ещё 120 мсек нужны, чтобы мысленно изменить время глагола или число существительного. Через 450 мсек мозг может проартикулировать впервые увиденное слово про себя.

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.