By: Srushti Godhani
The relationship between Neurology and technological advancement has always been a fascinating subject to many. From the very beginning, AI has inspired neuroscience and neuroscience has advanced in countless ways. Using these two in unison, scientists continue to find ways to ameliorate their understanding of the human brain and their methods in finding cures to neurological disorders.
Starting with neuroscience contributing to the development of AI, it has played a major part in building human-like Artificial Intelligence through two distinct ways; emulating human intelligence and building neural networks that mimic brain structure. Notable intelligence advancements such as ProFound AI, the Deep Density Displacement Model, and various other technologies have been proven to perform tasks better than humans and this is the result of efforts made to replicate the way humans solve problems. Although scientists and researchers are still nowhere close in replicating exactly the way one’s mind would think, they have developed “ a computational and neural mechanism for human meta reinforcement learning” according to a study conducted in KAIST. Emulating human intelligence is still a desire which many are in the trail of accomplishing. Now, considering the creation of neural networks that mimic the human brain structure, scientists are discovering ways to implement biological-like neurons in machinery. The complete replication of the neural network in the human brain still remains far more difficult simply because the human mind is an extremely intricate organ. However, people are finding ways to use similar aspects of the biological neural networks in AI. For instance, when we try something new such as riding a bike, we eventually learn it after practicing for some time and the same idea goes for AI. In an artificial neural network, after much data has been given, neurons distribute the weights according to what it can handle and proceedingly, that's how AI perceives data much like a human. Neurological advancements are shaping a totally new perspective of artificial intelligence.
Following how neuroscience advances AI, let’s consider what change has AI brought into understanding neurology. In the world, up to 1 billion people suffer from neurological diseases. AI is preventing such detrimental situations by helping people understand the way the human mind functions and ultimately finding new discoveries associated with common disorders. The most effective way scientists have been able to improve the understanding of the human brain is by creating models. As previously mentioned, artificial neural networks are used to replicate the brain and this has been a rough but really effective method in representing the complex organ. Through this advancement, finding neural patterns in the brain has become much easier for scientists by utilizing the scientific method before actually testing on animals and other subjects to further investigate. This has also been linked to finding disorders of the brain. As scientists are already learning how the brain works with models, they are also exploring the causes behind well-known illnesses such as the Alzemer’s and Parkinson’s Disease. A very popular example of this is using functional magnetic resonance to figure out changes in the blood flow in our brains. This has been proven very useful in facilitating research and revealing recurrent brain activities. However, this is just one example of the thousands on how AI has aided neuroscience. Many more discoveries have still yet to be made and uncovered through the development of automatic technology.
In the end, the connection of Artificial Intelligence and Neurology is a huge advantage we all have. Fueled with curiosity, many scientists and researchers are on the road of successfully solving riddles linked to these two powerful resources. By pushing each other for the better, AI and neuroscience are additionally revolutionizing the limits of science and technology. As Edwan Grant Conklin said, “The advancement of science rests upon freedom to seek and test and proclaim the truth”.
References:
Gallagher, K. (2019, July 23). 25 stunning advances in artificial intelligence. Stacker. https://stacker.com/stories/3336/25-stunning-advances-artificial-intelligence
Jing, H. (2020, March 19). Fascinating Relationship between AI and Neuroscience. Medium. https://towardsdatascience.com/the-fascinating-relationship-between-ai-and-neuroscience-89189218bb05
Savage, N. (2019). How AI and neuroscience drive each other forwards. Nature, 571, S15–S17. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02212-4
Serendip Studio. (2010). Fun Facts About Neurons | Serendip Studio. Serendipstudio.org. https://serendipstudio.org/exchange/brains/neuron/funfacts
United Nations. (2007, February 27). Nearly 1 in 6 of world’s population suffer from neurological disorders – UN report. UN News. https://news.un.org/en/story/2007/02/210312-nearly-1-6-worlds-population-suffer-neurological-disorders-un-report
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