In another Nicolelis Lab breakthrough, networks formed by multiple animal brains, cooperating and exchanging information in real time through brain-to-brain interfaces, was demonstrated. The “Brainet” technology could provide the core of a new organic computer.
In the recent study, four adult rat brains were interconnected. Brainets concurrently recorded extracellular electrical activity generated by cortical neurons from multiple rats implanted with multi-electrode arrays. Cortical neuronal activity was recorded and analyzed in real time, and delivered to the somatosensory cortices of other animals using intracortical microstimulation.
Brainet architectures solved several computational problems, including discrete classification, image processing, storage and retrieval of tactile information, and weather forecasting.
Brainets consistently performed at the same or higher levels than single rats. Nicolelis believes that Brainets could be used to investigate animal social behaviors and to test applications of organic computers.