A region of the human brain that scientists believe is critical to human intellectual abilities surprisingly functions much like a digital computer.
The part of the human brain considered vital for logical applications apparently also works very much like a digital computer according to psychology Professor Randall O'Reilly of the University of Colorado at Boulder. This finding could throw much light in the recesses of research trying to fathom how the human mind functions intelligently.
While reviewing computer models of the brain, professor O'Reilly reiterated that the prefrontal cortex and basal ganglia function very much like a digital computer system.Although many modern researchers refrain from the very idea of attributing a likeness to the computer in the way the human brain functions Prof. O'Reilly begs to differ now. He too formerly adhered to the conventional perception that drawing similarities between the unique human brain and the digital computer mans closest imitation to it, is fallacious. However his recent research has forced him to perceive that there are a lot of similarities that can be seen between the two 'think-tanks'.
The research headed by Prof.O'Rielly, has elucidated that the neurons (specialized cells of the brain) in the pre-frontal cortex, are binary just like the digital computers, having to be either "on" or "off" which is in turn controlled by the Basal ganglia, which functions like a switch which allows a person to operate different parts of the cortex dynamically. Similarly computers too have "on" and "off" states, which is stimulated by electrical signals. This is manipulated using manual switches.
Source-Eurekalert
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