Scientists had noticed that in creatures with simple nervous systems, such as insects, single nerve cells are capable of transmitting significant information. In the current study, researchers sought to test whether the same effect could be seen in mammals.

Researchers stimulated a single neuron within the brain of a rat, and found that doing so delivered the sensation of touch to the animal and triggered a behavioral response when their whiskers were touched.

The ways that the brain stores and transmits information are still poorly understood, and the current research only raises more questions. Armstrong noted that rather than suggesting that each cell in the brain plays an individual role, the findings suggest instead that single cells are capable of working alone if forced to do so for some reason.

Recent research has also suggested that single nerve cells store more information than previously thought. Each cell contains a variety of junctions with other nerve cells, known as synapses. A recent study found that each synapse in a given cell can act independently, suggesting that multiple bits of information can be processed or stored in single nerve cell simultaneously.