Brain information process

Evidence that dendrites actively process information in the brain

The brain's theoretical information processing power has just been multiplied

October 29, 2013

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Diagram of a typical neuron. Red branches: dentrites; blue segments: axon. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have discovered that dendrites do more than passively relay information from one neuron to the next — they actively process information, according to  Spencer Smith, PhD, an assistant professor in the UNC School of Medicine.

Axons are where neurons conventionally generate electrical spikes, but many of the same molecules that support axonal electrical spikes (firing) are also present in dendrites.

Previous research using dissected brain tissue had demonstrated that dendrites can use those molecules to generate electrical spikes themselves, but it was unclear whether normal brain activity uses those dendritic spikes.

For example, could dendritic spikes be involved in how we see?/.../