Our brains are complex organs, separated into many parts and units for different functions and computations. According to new research published today in PLOS Computational Biology, this compartmental complexity is what helps us learn new information and retain it for longer. The researchers say these findings may help improve the neural networks involved in artificial intelligence, helping robots learn new skills and remember old ones longer.

Lots of robots have artificial neural pathways, used for things like facial recognition and complex disease diagnosis. When one of these robots learns a new skill, the pathways create new connections to accommodate the new information. Here's what it looks like to learn a skill in typical artificial brain: