The brain is often compared to a computer––after all, both use electrical signals to send messages—and recent research has sought to combine them. This is the basis behind DishBrain, the first real-time synthetic biological intelligence system that can harness the inherent adaptive computation of the neuron to perform goal-oriented tasks such as playing the legendary arcade game Pong.
In a study that was published on Wednesday in Neuron, researchers wired up in vitro biological neuronal networks (BNNs) made from embryonic rodent and human-induced pluripotent stem cells to create the DishBrain. According to the study, the DishBrain system “can leverage the inherent property of neurons to share a ‘language’’ of electrical activity to link silicon and BNN systems through electrophysiological stimulation and recording.” This system was then essentially plugged into a virtual recreation of the beloved table tennis-inspired video game Pong.
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“We chose Pong due to its simplicity and familiarity, but, also, it was one of the first games used in machine learning, so we wanted to recognize that,” Brett Kagan, Chief Scientific Officer of Melbourne-based biotech start-up Cortical Labs and one of the study’s authors, said in a press release.
It’s not the first time brain-computer interfaces have been used, nor is it the first time they’ve been applied to video games. However, this study wanted to see if the jumbles of neurons could be induced to display signs of what the paper deems “sentience,” or “responsive to sensory impressions through adaptive internal processes.”
When provided with simple electrical sensory input and feedback, the neurons in the DishBrain system were able to adjust their firing activity and improve performance over time, demonstrating learning, according to the authors. In comparison, systems with a stimulus but no feedback showed no learning. Specifically, the study relies on the free energy principle or the idea that the brain (or in this case, groups of neurons) needs to change its actions to adapt to its environment to be more efficient.
As the first of its kind, the DishBrain system is a promising demonstration of a synthetic-biological system that can learn over time. It also paves the way for future research on the brain, learning, and intelligence.
Dr. Hon Weng Chong, Chief Executive Officer of Cortical Labs and study co-author, also noted that it could provide insight into debilitating conditions such as epilepsy and dementia.
“This is brand new, virgin territory,” Chong said in a press release. “We want more people to come on board and collaborate with this, to use the system that we’ve built to further explore this new area of science.”
