In our world, many people still perceive video games as something frivolous. But this is far from the case. For example, we already informed you that gamers proved the fallacy of Albert Einstein's theory, and recently a group of researchers published data on a project in which game lovers help scientists research the work of the brain and even make scientific discoveries.
It all began in 2012 with the launch of the Eyewire project in Princeton. This is, in fact, a study aimed at mapping the brain, but the only difference is that this project has been turned from a monotonous task into a rather exciting game. To begin with, it should be said that mapping is necessary to study the work of the brain, the connections of neurons with each other and to identify the patterns of their work. This process is complicated because the number of neurons in the brain, even according to the most conservative estimates, exceeds 100 billion, and the number of connections that need to be documented is hundreds and thousands of times greater than this figure.
But back to the game. It begins with a small segment of the rodent's retina. Gamers need to study the connection and understand how this body works. It is necessary to track the turns and bends of neurons, moving along a kind of "cube of nerve cells." Having finished with this "cube", the player unloads it in order to be checked by other gamers and scientists. If the “cube” is decoded correctly, it is placed in the Eyewire Museum (digital atlas of brain cells), and the player is offered a new, more complex one. As a reward, there is a system of achievements and privileges known to any gamer, just like in any video game.
Eyewire currently has about 250,000 registered people and has mapped about 3,000 nerve cells. Moreover, thanks to the players, it was possible to discover a new type of neurons responsible for the transmission of information. According to one of the authors of the project, Amy Robinson Sterling, "It used to take weeks to map one cell, but now we add several neurons a day to the atlas!"
But that's not all. Eyewire has a built-in artificial intelligence algorithm that learns and, by observing the actions of the players, further accelerates the mapping process.
“The combined efforts of tens of thousands of people are leading us to a fuller understanding of how the brain works. And this opens up truly endless possibilities."
Vladimir Kuznetsov
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