Brain Cells Reveal the Secrets of Intelligent Behavior
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Thu, 29 May 2025 17:25:45 EEST
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Jyväskylä, May 29, 2025 – Neuroscientists have made a significant discovery that opens new perspectives on how the brain enables intelligent and adaptive behavior. A recent study published in Nature reveals brain cells that allow for generalization and inference in new situations, contrary to traditional algorithms that focus on repetitive and predictable functions.
For decades, brain research has focused on mathematical models explaining brain activity in repetitive tasks, like games. These models have been remarkably precise and have even helped develop artificial intelligence that achieves superhuman results in specific tasks. However, they have fallen short in explaining the human and animal ability to generalize, infer, and adapt to new challenges.
"Unlike machines, humans and animals can flexibly navigate new challenges," states Mohamady El-Gaby, one of the study's authors, in an article published on the PsyPost website. "Every day, we solve new problems by generalizing from our knowledge or drawing from our experiences."
Researchers have previously identified "cognitive maps" forming cells, such as place cells and grid cells, in the brain's memory center (hippocampus) and the entorhinal cortex (an area related to memory, navigation, and time perception), which create a precise mental map of the physical world. In the new study, attention has shifted to other areas of cognition, such as generalization, inference, and imagination.
The researchers investigated whether there are cells that organize behavioral knowledge rather than the external world. They trained mice to complete a task involving a repeating sequence of actions across four locations containing a water reward. When the reward location was changed, the mice were able to infer what came next in the sequence, even if they had never experienced that exact scenario before. This showed that the mice understood the general structure of the task and tracked their position within it.
The study found that specific cells in the cortex (the outermost layer of the brain) collectively mapped the animal's progress toward its goal. For instance, one cell might activate when the animal was 70% of the way to its goal, regardless of the goal's location or distance. Some cells tracked progress toward immediate subgoals, while others mapped progress toward the overall goal.
These "goal progress cells" created a system that described the animal's location in behavioral space rather than physical space. Crucially, the system is flexible and can be updated if the task changes. This encoding allows the brain to predict the upcoming sequence of actions without relying on simple associative memories.
The researchers suggest that goal progress cells in the cortex serve as building blocks – internal frameworks that organize abstract relationships between events, actions, and outcomes. Although this has only been demonstrated in mice so far, it is plausible that the same mechanism operates in the human brain. This discovery forges new bridges between human and animal neuroscience, and between biological and artificial intelligence.
Sources:
Mohamady El-Gaby. "Neuroscientists discover specific brain cells that enable intelligent behavior". PsyPost. May 28, 2025.
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