Researchers from Columbia, the University of Cambridge, and the Central European University uncovered the brain’s remarkable ability to identify objects with minimal information. This research challenges the long-held belief that the brain systematically interprets visual and textural cues to identify individual objects. Instead, the study suggests that the human brain requires only a tiny bit of information, combined with previous experience, to calculate a complete mental representation of a new object.
These findings help explain the mental mathematics that enable us to easily recognize what a novel object looks like based on sight alone or the way an object feels from sight alone. The study illustrates the brain’s natural power to learn quickly and generalize, which is crucial for our ability to interact with the world around us.
