IBM has developed a microprocessor which it claims comes closer than ever to replicating the human brain.
The system is capable of "rewiring" its connections as it encounters new information, similar to the way biological synapses work.
Researchers believe that by replicating that feature, the technology could start to learn.
Cognitive computers may eventually be used for understanding human behaviour as well as environmental monitoring.
Dharmendra Modha, IBM's project leader, explained that they were trying to recreate aspects of the mind such as emotion, perception, sensation and cognition by "reverse engineering the brain."The figure is basically IBM's processors replicate the system of synaptic connections found in the human brain.
Man machine
In humans and animals, synaptic connections between brain cells physically connect themselves depending on our experience of the world. The process of learning is essentially the forming and strengthening of connections.
IBM has not released exact details of how its SyNAPSE processor works, but Dr Richard Cooper, a reader in cognitive science at Birkbeck, University of London said that it likely replicated physical connections using a "virtual machine".
IBM's work on the SyNAPSE project continues and the company, along with its academic partners, has just been awarded $21m (£12.7m) by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
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