The human brain has two "clocks" to help predict the future

A new study reveals that the human brain has two neural "clocks" to help predict what will happen in the future.

Even though we may not be aware of it, our brain is constantly trying to predict the future. not in the sense of what will happen in a few years, but in a few milliseconds. Thus, when we operate a switch, our brain already anticipates that the light will come on suddenly because we have already done so many times.

The same is true when we hear the opening agreement of one of our favorite songs, our brain knowing what will be next. According to a new study from the University of California at Berkeley, this shows that our brain has two "clocks"; one that builds on past experiences and one that keeps pace.

According to the research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciencesneural networks supporting each of these timekeepers are distributed between two different parts of the brain, depending on the task at hand.

"Whether it's sports, music, speech or even attention, our study suggests that timing is not a unified process, but that There are two distinct ways of making temporal predictions, which depend on different parts of the brain "the main author of the study, Assaf Breska.

The research offers us a new perspective on how humans calculate the timing of the move. It was discovered by analyzing the anticipated temporal strengths and deficits of people with Parkinson's disease and people with cerebellar degeneration.

Both stand each for the other

During the tests, sequences of red, white and green squares were shown to patients when they flashed at different speeds on a computer screen and they pressed a button as soon as they saw the green square. The white squares warned them that the green square was going to rise.

For people with brain degeneration, a consistent trend gave them high scores. and those with Parkinson's disease performed better if they had a more complex pattern.

Thanks to this, the researchers connected the rhythmic synchronization to the basal ganglia and linked the clock based on previous experiences to the cerebellum. These two regions are associated with movement and cognition.

Additional results suggest that both keep an eye on each other too, as when any of these neuronal clocks fail, the other steps to help.

"Our study identifies not only the anticipatory contexts in which these neurological patients are altered, but also the contexts in which they have no difficulty, suggesting that we could modify their environments to facilitate their interaction with the world. face their symptoms. "Said Breska.

Some of these remedies against neural clocks include brain training video games, smartphone apps, deep brain simulations and environmental design changes.