{"680942":{"#nid":"680942","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Sharper Images: How the Brain Filters Out the Noise ","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA multidisciplinary team of researchers at Georgia Tech has discovered how lateral inhibition helps our brains process visual information, and it could expand our knowledge of sensory perception, leading to applications in neuro-medicine and artificial intelligence.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELateral inhibition is when certain neurons suppress the activity of their neighboring neurons. Imagine an artist drawing, darkening the lines around the contours, highlighting the boundaries between objects and space, or objects and other objects. Comparably, in the visual system, lateral inhibition sharpens the contrast between different visual stimuli.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis research is really getting at how our visual system not only highlights important things, but also actively suppresses irrelevant information in the background,\u201d said lead researcher \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Bilal-Haider\u0022\u003EBilal Haider\u003C\/a\u003E, associate professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. \u201cThat ability to filter out distractions is crucial.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding how these inhibitory mechanisms work could provide insights into why people have trouble filtering out distractions or focusing on what\u2019s important, in conditions like autism or ADHD.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur findings may also influence how we design artificial intelligence and neural networks,\u201d said Haider, whose team published its work this month in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41593-025-01888-4\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ENature Neuroscience\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E. \u201cCurrent AI systems treat all the computing units the same, but the brain has figured out how to assign specialized computing roles.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joseph-del-rosario-989b2460\/\u0022\u003EJoseph Del Rosario\u003C\/a\u003E, a former graduate student in the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/haider.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EHaider lab\u003C\/a\u003E, was the lead author. Another key contributor was \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/people\/hannah-choi\u0022\u003EHannah Choi\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor in the School of Mathematics, and her \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/hannahchoi.math.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EResearch Group in Mathematical Neuroscience\u003C\/a\u003E. Their team built computational models to test the biological findings.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCollaborating with mathematicians to really understand the computational principles underlying these inhibitory processes is a great example of how neuroscience can inform fields like AI,\u201d Haider said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/news\/sharper-images-how-brain-filters-out-noise\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERead more in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering newsroom.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA multidisciplinary team has discovered how lateral inhibition helps our brains process visual information, and it could expand our knowledge of sensory perception, leading to applications in neuro-medicine and artificial intelligence.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Researchers uncover the role of lateral inhibition in enhancing contrast and filtering distractions, with implications for neuroscience and AI."}],"uid":"34528","created_gmt":"2025-03-05 19:38:43","changed_gmt":"2025-03-24 15:05:05","author":"jhunt7","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-03-05T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"676473":{"id":"676473","type":"image","title":"Brain illustration (iStock)","body":null,"created":"1741203723","gmt_created":"2025-03-05 19:42:03","changed":"1741203723","gmt_changed":"2025-03-05 19:42:03","alt":"Brain illustration (iStock)","file":{"fid":"260269","name":"brain-istock.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/05\/brain-istock.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/03\/05\/brain-istock.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":80750,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/03\/05\/brain-istock.jpg?itok=6rOtE8_M"}}},"media_ids":["676473"],"groups":[{"id":"1278","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"66220","name":"Neuro"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"173647","name":"_for_math_site_"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"193733","name":"_for_math_site_manual_feed_"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"187582","name":"go-ibb"},{"id":"172970","name":"go-neuro"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"193656","name":"Neuro Next Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}