Russian biophysicists created mathematical model of the brain

Russian researchers have created an algorithm enabling to study the process of regulation of neuronal activity and the nature of the interactions of neurons with auxiliary brain cells. This mathematical model will help better understand the mechanisms of the brain, TASS reports.

“Scientists have built a neural network that simulates the interaction of neurons with the supporting cells of the nervous system: astrocytes. The computing system was able to simulate the process of transmission and reproduction of visual signals in the brain. The work will help better understand the interaction of brain cells and open up new prospects for the treatment of diseases of the nervous system,” the press service of the Russian Science Foundation said in a statement.

A group of Russian biophysicists led by Sergei Stasenko, a senior researcher at the Nizhny Novgorod State University, has developed an approach that makes it possible to calculate in detail how information is encoded inside nerve cells and how it is transmitted in the human brain.

Scientists note that this process is radically different from how data is stored, processed and transmitted inside computers. Neurons can simultaneously store information and process it, as well as perceive many heterogeneous analogue signals. Moreover, nerve cells are able to respond differently to certain stimuli, as well as quickly change sensitivity to individual sets of impulses.