"However, by using innovative methods to measure the electrical impulses of lab-grown brain tissue, Sharf and the study's authors discovered compelling evidence that the brain is already encoded with instructions for making sense of the world even before it receives any sensory input, which he said is more akin to the philosopher Immanuel Kant's idea of a priori cognition, and which Sharf calls a "primordial operating system.""
"'It's been hard for the neuroscience community to take a step back from this old school interpretation that the brain is this blank slate,' said Sharf. 'Our work suggests that an intrinsic physiologic scaffold forms early in brain development and provides the foundational structure for encoding information.' Published in Nature Neuroscience and titled " Preconfigured neuronal firing sequences in human brain organoids," the study examined the activity of developing human and rodent brain tissue"
Developing human and rodent brain tissue exhibits spontaneous electrical impulses and structured temporal firing sequences before receiving any sensory information. Intrinsic physiologic scaffolds form early during neurogenesis and create a preconfigured architecture that constrains firing sequences. Lab-grown brain organoids reveal these patterns through measurable electrical activity and temporal sequences that do not depend on experience. Innate instructions appear present for making sense of physical inputs, providing foundational structure for encoding information. The presence of such prewiring contrasts with the blank-slate notion and aligns with a priori frameworks for cognitive organization.
Read at The Mercury News
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]