Researchers Gain Understanding of Why the Brain Makes Mistakes

Human brain is made up of a billion nerve cells called neurons and various other types of cells and is the most complex machine ever known. Even after years of research and studies we still do not have a complete understanding of how it works “ how it controls every single thing we ever do. In order to unravel one such mysteries of the brain, researchers at the Carnegie Mellon University set out to find out why brain makes mistakes. The study was conducted as part of Carnegie Mellon’s BrainHub, a university initiative that focuses on how the structure and activity of the brain give rise to complex behaviors.

As a part of the study, the results of which were published recently in eLife, the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University investigated the brain’s neural activity during learned behavior. What they found is truly interesting – it has been found that the brain makes mistakes because it applies incorrect inner beliefs, or internal models, about how the world works. The study seems to suggest that when the brain makes a mistake, it actually thinks that it is making the correct decision. The neural signals of the brain are consistent with its inner beliefs, but it might not take into account what is happening in the real world.

Steven Chase, an assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition remarked that human brains are constantly trying to predict how the world works. It does so by building internal models through experience and learning when humans interact with the world. But, it has not yet been possible to track how these internal models affect instant-by-instant behavioral decisions.

An experiment was conducted by the researchers using brain-machine interface “ a device that lets the brain control a computer cursor with thoughts only. The researchers studied the brain activity and tried to understand how the brain thinks an action should be performed. As per their observations, the researchers have come to the conclusion that the majority of errors happened due to a mismatch between the subjects’ internal models and reality. They also observed that internal models realigned to better match reality during the course of learning. Byron Yu, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Biomedical Engineering remarked that this study brings to our knowledge the most detailed representation of a brain’s inner beliefs that has been identified to date.

The results of the study are quite significant as they have wide-reaching applications. Among the most notable applications is the potential to improve the performance and reliability of current brain-machine interfaces that assist paralyzed patients and amputees. The results can also shed light and help us understand how the brain learns like how we acquire knowledge, learn new language or develop new skills. Since, the results of the study helps us understand why the brain makes mistakes, it can also be a powerful tool in improving the way we learn to perform new tasks.

Matthew Golub, postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering cites an example of a doctor trying to learn how to use a new robotic surgical device. If s snapshot of how the doctor thinks the device works can be taken, any mismatch in his or her internal model can be identified and he/she can be more efficiently trained to use the device.

The funding of this study was provided by The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the PA Department of Health Research, and the National Science Foundation Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) program.

References:

https://engineering.cmu.edu/media/press/2015/12_08_chase_brain_mistakes.html

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-12-gain-brain.html