A recent study published in the journal Neuron has calculated the speed at which the human brain processes information, revealing a surprising result. Researchers found that the brain’s thought speed is an astonishingly low 10 bits per second.
While this may seem slow compared to other processing speeds in the body, such as sensory systems, the team behind the study suggests that this speed is sufficient for our needs. According to Markus Meier, lead researcher and Caltech biological sciences professor, “Every moment, we are extracting just 10 bits from the trillion that our senses are taking in and using those ten to perceive the world around us and make decisions.”
This raises questions about how the brain filters and processes this vast amount of information. The study proposes that evolution may be responsible for this low thought speed, as human brains have adapted to navigate a slow-paced environment over time.
The findings have significant implications for brain-computer interfaces, which are also limited by this speed. In fact, the researchers suggest that billionaire Elon Musk’s claims about Neuralink’s capabilities may be exaggerated.
According to the study, even with advanced technology, humans are unlikely to exceed this 10-bit per second threshold. Instead, they could rely on more conventional methods like telephones, which have been designed to match human language and cognition speeds.
Source: https://futurism.com/neoscope/human-brain-bits-per-second-thought