Artificial Brains Are Helping Scientists Study The Real Thing

In the past decade, advances in machine learning have enabled computers to teach themselves complicated tasks by analyzing large amounts of data. This has led to progress in computer vision, language translation, and chatbot development. Artificial neural networks are the software models used for this learning, which are loosely inspired by the networks of neurons in the human brain. Neuroscientists are now finding that these models can be useful in understanding the inner workings of the brain. A seminal study compared the performance of an artificial neural network to that of macaque monkeys, finding remarkable similarities between the two.