What is the formula for calculating the speed of thought?

[westdivo]

What is the formula for calculating the speed of thought? Also the speed of a thought sent and received from a human brain?

[russ_watters]

I'm not sure there is even a definition, much less a formula for "the speed of thought". Could you describe in more detail what you mean by that? Ie, for the second part - sent and received by what, where?

[somasimple]

If you take the questions literally, it doesn't mean something.
Physiologically, it may mean the duration of the neural process for the elaboration of this thought.

[Proton Soup]

there might be a way to answer it from an Information Theory/Computer Science perspective as far as data processing capacity is concerned. i think i've seen a small subset of the nervous system attempt to be addressed before (the I/O capacity of the hand), but i doubt anyone really has more than a guess on rational thought.

[alxm]

Neurons fire at something like an order of milliseconds, if that's any help.

[BioSjoerd]

It could also depend on what thought your trying to access. This is explained bij how many 'steps' it takes to get to the memory your trying to remember. The steps vary from each other on the lenght of the axon.
Also memories are not just one nerv, they come in networks linking to other memories giving other association with the memory your retrieving.

[ViewsofMars]

The question posed by the OP reminds me of 'you're a student with an inquiring mind and a burning energy question or an educator teaching a classroom full of inquiring minds'. (1)


Office of the Department of Energy (DOE) - Science Education had somewhat the same question on their website:

Speed of Thought
[snip]
[Answer]
I think what you are asking about is referred to as "reaction time", the
time that it takes for your body to react to something your brain sees as
requiring a reaction.

This has been studied quite a bit -- it affects things like people's ability
to drive safely and an athlete's ability to perform well (you can test your
reaction time online at this web site from the Exploratorium:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/reactiontime.html).

The average reaction time for most people is a little bit more than 0.2
seconds.

Here is a little experiment you can try with your friends. Rest your elbow
on a table with your hand over the edge of the table and have a friend hold
a $1 bill between your thumb and your index finger, with about 1/2 of the
bill above your thumb and half below. At some random time, your friend
should say "go" and drop the bill. See if you can catch the bill before it
falls through your finger and your thumb (most people will NOT be able to
catch it because their reaction time is too slow).
For more on reaction time and baseball, see

http://www.exploratorium.edu/baseball/biobaseball.html

Regards,

Todd Clark, Office of Science
US Department of Energy
===============================================
Tricky question. Nerve conduction speeds vary depending on the nerve
type...they typically vary from about walking speed to the speed of a
passenger jet airplane. Your question included the thought process too...and
that depends on lots of decission making. If it is just a matter of deciding
to lift your hand it is a combo of the speeds I mentioned. If its a
reflex...it might not even involve the brain. If it involves deciding to buy
a icecream it could take minutes. One nice thing to remember is " the hand
is quicker than the eye"...how short of a time duration can the eye
register?...something else to ask a scientist. (-:

http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/gen06/gen06081.htm

1. Energy Resources for Students and Teachers
http://www.eereblogs.energy.gov/energysavers/post/Energy-Resources-for-Students-and-Teachers.aspx