Ask HN: How do neurons not end up in an infinite loop?

5 pointstechsin1014 comments

A neuron triggers other neurons, those in turn trigger more neurons, given each neuron connects to 1000s of other neurons then it's reasonable to think some of them connect to neurons that trigger the parent neurons. In programming this would be akin to cyclical dependency causing infinite loop.

So how come brain just doesn't completely lights up, with each neuron stuck infinite loop?

View on HN

Why do you assume that they never do?

A friend of mine has severe OCD and OCPD, and his brain very much seems like it's stuck on a loop. I know some autistic people express the same thing.

I meant under normal circumstances

I guess because of Attenuation?

What about getting a song stuck in your head or having a nervous tic?

I'm not sure the concept of an infinite loop even makes sense for a brain's "architecture" anyway.

After millions of years of evolution, there are lots of "errors" that just aren't common at all, so asking why an error isn't "normal" is very presumptive.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com