Brain cells living in a dish have learned to play the tennis-like computer game Pong, and scientists plan to get them drunk next.

The 800,000 brain cells were grown together by a Melbourne-led team of scientists who figured out how to stimulate them to perform goal-directed tasks.

The scientists signalled what side a ball was on to the cells using electrodes, and feedback from the electrodes taught the cells how to return the ball by making them act as though they were the paddle.

The findings open the door for scientists to experiment on a living model brain, rather than a model designed according to how computer scientists think the brain works, lead study author Dr Brett Kagan said.

“We have shown we can interact with living biological neurons in such a way that compels them to modify their activity, leading to something that resembles intelligence,” he said.

Dr Kagan is chief scientific officer at biotech start-up Cortical Labs.

The scientists next plan to see how alcohol and medicines affect the cells, with Dr Kagan saying they will use ethanol to get them “drunk” and see whether they play Pong more poorly.

The experiment, dubbed DishBrain, offers up a simpler approach to test how the brain works, and gain insights into conditions like epilepsy and dementia, Cortical Labs chief executive Dr Hon Weng said.

The findings also open up possibilities for alternatives to testing new drugs or gene therapies on animals.

Study co-author and theoretical neuroscientist Professor Karl Friston described the model as the “ultimate sandbox” for testing, where computing elements were the same as those found in the human brain.

The scientists faced a challenge working out how to instruct the cells down a certain path, given they didn’t have access to dopamine systems or other real-time incentives.

Their findings support the theory that cells try to minimise unpredictability.

“Remarkably, the cultures learned how to make their world more predictable by acting upon it,” ProfessorFriston said.

“This is remarkable because you cannot teach this kind of self-organisation; simply because — unlike a pet — these mini brains have no sense of reward and punishment.”

The results of the study were on Thursday published in the Neuron journal.

-with AAP

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