top of page

Post Publication Research   
                                Chapters

The Speed of Thought

As I studied Einstein's thoughts on relativity, I found myself wondering, "what is the speed of thought?" There are several subtle mentions of this in the book (e.g., 14-40 milliseconds to get from brain to muscles on page 28 of chapter 2), but here's a more definitive paper in which researchers specifically measure pathways in the brain: https://discoverysedge.mayo.edu/2023/03/09/understanding-the-speed-of-brain-communication/ It turns out, the speed of thought (20-"45 milliseconds for a signal to travel from the frontal to parietal regions of the brain"!) is much closer to the speed of sound in air (~1 foot per millisecond) than the speed of light-although rather frighteningly slow! Curiouser and curiouser. Here's there research: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01272-0.

Recent Posts

See All

Thanks to Ben Chappell for sending this link to a nice playlist from the Fermi Lab that helps explain relativity in simple lay-person terms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Txv7V_nY2eg.

Have research to share?
Send suggestions to zounds@purdue.edu

bottom of page