Brain Balances Energy Efficiency and New Information Processing

People process lots of information about the environment while adapting as this information changes—without high energy use. Neuroscientists researching the brain's efficiency in processing information in the environment are split: Some believe the brain saves energy by sharpening and refining its representations of expected events, while others believe it prioritizes unexpected events, which carry new information. In a new paper from JNeurosci, Reuben Rideaux and colleagues from the University of Sydney ultimately discovered that the brain may use both strategies at different times.