Scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign have uncovered evidence that could reshape how researchers think about both the brain and artificial intelligence. Their findings suggest that decision making begins much earlier in the brain than traditional theories propose, offering fresh ideas for designing future AI systems that are more capable and far more energy efficient.
Led by electrical and computer engineering professor Yurii Vlasov at The Grainger College of Engineering, the research was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). The study points to an unexpected role for early sensory brain regions in decision making, challenging the long accepted view that decisions emerge only after information moves through a strict hierarchy of brain regions.
Rethinking How the Brain Makes Decisions
The human brain is widely regarded as the most complex structure in the known universe. Scientists still do not fully understand how it works, which is why reverse engineering the brain was identified by the National Academy of Engineering in 2008 as one of the 14 grand challenges for engineering in the 21st century.
For decades, many artificial intelligence systems, including convolutional neural networks, have been inspired by the idea that the brain processes information in a one way sequence. According to this traditional model, sensory information travels upward through increasingly complex brain regions until it reaches the frontal cortex, where decisions are made.
