Brain ‘much slower than the internet’

We process information very slowly – but our senses are much faster, researchers say.

Human Head with Brain Activity

The human brain processes thoughts at only millionths of the speed at which information is transmitted over the internet.

A team at the California Institute of Technology assessed the speed of conscious thought by ­examining data on human behaviour such as reading, writing and solving Rubik’s cubes.

They calculated that humans think at a rate of 10 bits per second. A bit is a basic unit of information in computing, representing the smallest possible piece of data. They said this was “ridiculously slow” in comparison with a typical wi-fi connection, which processes 50 million bits a second.

However, the team noted that there was a “paradox”, as the brain processes sensory information from sight, smell and noise much more rapidly. This is processed at about 100 million times the rate of thinking, but the brain then “filters” out the important information needed for decision-making.

Researchers said this “speed limit” on thinking meant that the idea that humans could one day be hooked up to computers to increase the speed of our brains would never become reality.

Markus Meister and Jieyu Zheng, who led the research, published in the journal Neuron, were surprised by how slowly brains worked.

“We get anxious when the speed of the home wi-fi network drops below 100 megabits per second, because that might compromise our enjoyment of Netflix shows. Meanwhile, even if we stay awake during the show, our brain will never extract more than 10 bits per second of that giant bitstream,” they said.

The Times