Critical Analysis of A Computer in Your Head? by Eric Chudler, Ph.D

The article I chose to review from the website http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/nuerok.html was “A Computer in Your Head?” by Eric Chudler, Ph.D. This article was originally published in ODYSSEY magazine, 10:6-7, 2001 (March), by Cobblestone Publishing Co. The reason I chose this article is it has always interested me in how similar the brain is to a computer. It also helps that I am currently taking a Computer information Systems class and I personally find that applying my classes to each other assists me in understanding material more accurately. The article had a lot of interesting ideas but did not go very in depth into the capabilities of the brain in comparison to a computer. There were many interesting facts that were prevalent throughout the article and the comparison is fairly easy to follow.

The introduction to the article was interesting, “What has billions of individual pieces, trillions of connections, weights about 1.4 kilograms, and works on electrochemical energy? If you guessed a minicomputer you’re wrong. If you guessed the human brain, you’re correct!” I did not know the brain had quite this many connections. After reading our chapter I really started to grasp the complexity of the human brain and the amount of energy it expends. I felt that the article lacked facts like these further in. There was very little empirical numbers offered by the author Eric Chudler.

I did find it interesting how the individual neurons receive messages as to how a computer does. “An individual neuron may receive information from thousands of other neurons.” From my basic study of how a computer functions this is not the case in them. Computers receive information from various sources but nowhere near thousands, and when the message is relayed it is immediately carried out. However in neurons this is not the case as stated by Chudler. “Remember, the receiving neuron may be getting thousands of small signals at many synapses. Only when the total signal from all of these synapses exceeds a certain level will a large signal (an action “potential”) be generated and the message continued.” This is much different from a computer, for every keystroke and action is immediately taken, where as in our brain it takes thousands of synapses milliseconds to make me type. The speed and accuracy of my typing is affected by the ability of my neurons to send action potentials.

I have to say I was not surprised to find out the brain rewires itself around bad portions however, because I have seen this in action more or less.