Neurons can learn temporal patterns
"It is like striking a piano key with a finger not just once, but as a programmed series of several keystrokes," says neurophysiology researcher Germund Hesslow. The work constitutes basic research, but has a bearing on the development of neural networks and artificial intelligence as well as research on learning. Autism, ADHD and language disorders in children, for example, may be associated with disruptions in these and other basic learning mechanisms. Learning is commonly thought to be based on strengthening or weakening of the contacts between the brain's neurons. The Lund researchers have previously shown that a cell can also learn a timed association, so that it sends a signal with a certain learned delay. Now, it seems that a neuron can be trained not only to give a single response, but a whole complex series of several responses. The brain's learning capacity is greater than previously thought "This means that the brain's capacity for learn...