Brain as Parallel Processor

Professor Earl Miller explain that the brain, unlike a computer, processes information in a parallel manner. This makes for quick identification of objects.

It is very fast - you can identify an object within a few tenths of milliseconds. So what that means is that the brain is operating in a lot of different functions in parallel, that's the way the brain can solve problems very rapidly. Unlike a computer, which has a very limited ability to recognize objects - they are much slower than the brain because computers do things in a serial fashion: first task A is completed, then task B, and then task C and eventually you get the answer. And that's one of the major differences between the computer and a brain is that a brain does lots of things in parallel so we can come up with an answer quickly. And again it is important that we have quick answers because when something is jumping out of the bushes at us we have to know whether its friend or foe pretty quickly.