The Number of Neurons in a Brain Network May Not Matter

Results from a study conducted by a team of researchers at Vanderbilt University indicate that it may be possible to accurately characterize a neural network in the human brain by recording the activity of a properly selected sample size of 50 neurons or less. The study aimed to understand the behavior of the networks of hundreds of thousands of neurons that initiate different body movements through the use of computer simulation. The researchers discovered that the range of response times by the simulated population of neurons did not change with size — a network of 50 simulated neurons responded with the same speed as a network with 1,000 neurons. The authors of the study further discovered that under a large set of conditions, what holds true in a neural network ranging from 10 to 1,000 neurons should be the same in networks of 10,000 to 100,000 neurons. To read more about the results of this study, click here.