Neurons understands human words

London: Researchers have developed a new cognitive model, made up of two million interconnected artificial neurons, which can learn to communicate using human language.

The model developed by researchers from the University of Sassari in Italy and the University of Plymouth in UK is called ANNABELL (Artificial Neural Network with Adaptive Behaviour Exploited for Language Learning). It can learn a new language from scratch, only through communication with a human interlocutor.

The research sheds light on the neural processes that underlie the development of language. Researchers have not yet been able to explain how our brain develops the ability to perform complex cognitive functions, such as those needed for language and reasoning.

In the human brain there are about one hundred billion neurons that communicate by means of electrical signals. We might think that the brain works in a similar way to a computer since even computers work through electrical signals.

However, apart from the structural differences, there are profound differences between the brain and a computer, especially in learning and information processing mechanisms. Computers work through programmes developed by humans. In these programmes there are coded rules that the computer must follow in handling the information to perform a given task.

However there is no evidence of the existence of such programmes in our brain. Researchers believed that our brain is able to develop higher cognitive skills simply by interacting with the environment, starting from very little innate knowledge.

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