Human Brain Discovered to Operate in 11 Dimensions --"Multiverse-Like Structures a World We Never
Imagined�
"We found a world that we had never imagined, said Henry Markram, director of Blue Brain
Project.
"There are tens of millions of these objects even in a small speck of the brain, up through
seven dimensions.
In some networks, we even found structures with up to eleven dimensions."
Swiss Scientists studying the brain using an advanced mathematical system have discovered
that it operates on up to 11 different dimensions, creating multiverse-like structures.
The researchers were able to uncover architectural structures that appears when the brain has
to process information, before they disintegrate into nothing.
The findings suggest that when we examine brain activity with low-dimensional representations,
we only get a shadow of the real activity taking place.
This means we can see some information, but not the full picture.
�So, in a sense our discoveries may explain why it has been so hard to understand the
relation between brain structure and function,� explains Swiss scientist Karen Hess, Associate
Professor in Life Sciences and Mathematics in the Schools of Life Sciences at EPFL.
Their findings, published in the journal Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, reveals the
hugely complicated processes involved in the creation of neural structures, potentially
helping explain why the brain is so difficult to understand and tying together its structure
with its function.
The researchers focused on the neural network structures within the brain using for the
first time, algebraic topology�a system used to describe networks with constantly
changing spaces and structures.
The team, led by scientist Hess and colleagues at the EPFL, Switzerland, were carrying out
research as part of the Blue Brain Project�an initiative to create a biologically detailed
reconstruction of the human brain.
Working initially on rodent brains, the team used supercomputer simulations to study the
complex interactions within different regions, performing multiple tests on virtual brain
tissue to find brain structures that would never appear just by chance.
They then carried out the same experiments on real brain tissue to confirm their virtual
findings.
"Algebraic topology is like a telescope and microscope at the same time.
It can zoom into networks to find hidden structures�the trees in the forest�and see the empty spaces�the
clearings�all at the same time," study author Kathryn Hess said in a statement.
The EPFL team discovered that when they presented the virtual tissue with stimulus, groups of
neurons form a clique, with up to 11 different dimensions.
Each neuron connects to every other neuron in a very specific way to produce a precise
geometric object.
The more neurons in a clique, the higher the dimensions.
The structures assembled formed enclosures for high-dimensional holes that the team have
dubbed cavities.
Once the brain has processed the information, the clique and cavity disappears.
The left shows a digital copy of a part of the neocortex, the most evolved part of the
brain.
On the right is a representation of the structures with different dimensions.
The black hole in the middle symbolizes a complex of multi-dimensional spaces, or cavities.
(Project Blue Brain)
"The appearance of high-dimensional cavities when the brain is processing information means
that the neurons in the network react to stimuli in an extremely organized manner," said EPFL
researcher, Ran Levi.
"It is as if the brain reacts to a stimulus by building then razing a tower of multi-dimensional
blocks, starting with rods (1D), then planks (2D), then cubes (3D), and then more complex
geometries with 4D, 5D, etc.
The progression of activity through the brain resembles a multi-dimensional sandcastle that
materializes out of the sand and then disintegrates," he said.
The findings indicate the brain processes stimuli by creating these complex cliques
and cavities, so the next step will be to find out whether or not our ability to perform
complicated tasks requires the creation of these multi-dimensional structures.
By using algebraic topology, Hess says, the team was able to discover �the highly organized
structure hidden in the seemingly chaotic firing patterns of neurons, a structure which
was invisible until we looked through this particular mathematical filter.�
�The stereotypical response pattern that we discovered indicates that the circuit always
responds to stimuli by constructing a sequence of geometrical representations starting in
low dimensions and adding progressively higher dimensions, until the build-up suddenly stops
and then collapses: a mathematical signature for reactions to stimuli.
�In future work we intend to study the role of plasticity�the strengthening and weakening
of connections in response to stimuli�with the tools of algebraic topology.
Plasticity is fundamental to the mysterious process of learning, and we hope that we will
be able to provide new insight into this phenomenon,� she added.
The Daily Galaxy via Newsweek, Frontiers in Computational Neuroscience, EPFL
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