Researchers have shown that the capabilities of short and long-term memory, which are among the characteristics of the human brain, can be simulated in non-biological hardware. Of course, to do this, you have to use tiny nanowires that have high conductivity and are almost invisible.
A group of researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia found that A network of nanowires By simulating the function of brain neurons, they can repeat functions such as recognizing and remembering images. Of course, in addition to memory, this research has also focused on learning functions.
Professor Zdenka Koncic explains that the network works like an artificial neural network, where the wires look like Neurons are and their connection to each other like Synapses It is used to transfer information.
Researchers to check the memory power of this network from a so-called test N-Back It is used to measure memory performance in humans. In this test, a set of stimuli are displayed, for example, they can be a set of images. Then a comparison is made between each stimulus with the stimuli of several previous steps.
How did the network of nanowires perform in the memory test?
The N-Back test for humans could involve recalling a specific picture of a cat from a set of pictures of cats, the researchers say. average score 7 For humans in this test, it means that people can remember the image from seven previous steps.
When the researchers subjected the nanowire network to the N-Back test, it was found that this network can at least Seven steps back to remember Therefore, the score of this system was not significantly different from the average score of human memory.
Of course, if this system is strengthened, its performance will improve significantly. Also, this network can reach a point where it no longer needs to be reinforced; Because the information in it becomes a part of the system’s memory. Researchers of this situation as something like the difference between Long and short term memory They learn in our brain.
Now it has been said that this achievement can lay the groundwork for the production of new non-biological hardware to simulate human learning and memory. The results of this research have been published in the journal Science Advances.
