Energy frugal brain

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The brain is the most energy-demanding organ in the human body. As such it has evolved through time to reduce its energy exposure by the use of thinking shortcuts (heuristics).

Decision-Making-Cognitive-Miser
Figure 1. Cognitive Miser

Energy in the universe is finite, therefore Brain cells depend primarily on steady deliveries of the sugar glucose, which they convert to adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to fuel their information processing. When we’re a little hungry, our brain usually doesn’t change its energy consumption much. But given that humans and other animals have historically faced the threat of long periods of starvation one of the most important evolutionary pressures of gene transmission is energy efficiency[1].

References

  1. Neocortex saves energy by reducing coding precision during food scarcity. Zahid Padamsey Danai Katsanevaki Nathalie Dupuy Nathalie L. Rochefort. Open Access Published: November 05, 2021, accessed on 20th Jun 2022 via : DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2021.10.024

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