Scientists unravel how brain always gets it right
Sydney: What does your brain do as soon as you notice a door handle? It is already hard at work, noticing more and more details. A simple door handle turns into a silver-plated antique-style-door-handle facing-right. Information about the handle also reaches the part of your brain responsible for planning movements, allowing you to turn the handle with your right hand and open the door. However, this is not necessarily a simple process for the brain. For instance, how do we end up turning the door handle with our right hand, instead of with the other? During this analysis, the brain is bombarded with a lot of irrelevant information, so it relies on a control system to filter out unnecessary information. In the visual system, this control mechanism is known as centre surround inhibition (CSI) and it works by activating only the neurons that are required for further action. In other words, if any extra neurons are turned on, this CSI will shut them off, so that the brain can focus on the...