According to IBM, the company has discovered a micro processor that is closest to copying the human brain.

The new system is able to rewire connections as it is exposed to new information, which is similar to the working of the biology synapses.

According to researchers, this feature of replicating information enables the new technology to learn. Cognitive computers will be ultimately beneficial to understand human behavior and the monitoring of the environment. According to the IBM project leader Dharmendra Modha, the researchers were working towards recreating the various emotions, perceptions, sensations, and cognitive skills by reverse engineering of the brain.

The SyNAPSE utilizes two types of neurosynaptic computing chips with 256 computational cores. According to the researchers the cores are the electrical equivalents of the neurons.

One of the chips is provided with 262,114 programmable synapses. In comparison, the other chip comprises 65,536 synapses that can learn.

Man machine

The synaptic links between the brain cells are physically connected to the experiences of the humans and animals. Learning strengthens this connection of development of the brain.

An electronic device is unable to solder and de-solder the electrical tracks. Nonetheless, the machine is able to simulate the system by increasing the volume of important incoming signals while paying lesser attention to the others.

The company has not provided the details of the working of the SyNAPSE processor. However, according to Dr. Richard Cooper who is reader in cognitive science at Birkback at the University of London the technology will utilize the physical connectivity with the virtual machines. The system would focus on paying attention to the signals instead of the stronger and weaker links. These signals would be altered based on new experiences gained. The artistic impressions of the IBM processors follow the synaptic connections of the neurons seen in human brains.

According to Dr. Cooper, the trick is to learning the algorithm to understand turning the volumes up and down. He mentions that several tasks could be easily completed following the system like the associative memory. Several believers of cognitive computing technologies speculate this technology to reach a point when the possibility of machine consciousness exists.

In comparison, professor of cognitive computing at Goldsmiths, Dr. Mark Bishop appears more cautious about the technology.