Brain Makes Decisions with Same Method Used to Break WW2 Enigma Code (VIDEO)

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Caption

Alan Turing and his codebreakers assigned values to aligned pairs of letters in two intercepted German messages. Unmatched pairs were given a negative value, matched pairs a positive value. Starting at different points in the messages, the codebreakers began adding and subtracting. When the sum reached a positive or negative threshold, the two messages were deemed a pair from machines with the same setting, or not.

Credit

Laboratory of Michael Shadlen/Columbia University Medical Center

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