Branch predictors for sure, but modern CPUs also do things like managing multiple layers of cache using relatively simple algorithms that nonetheless in practice get high hit rates, conversion of instructions into microcode because it turns out small, simple instructions execute faster but CPUs need to do a lot of things so the tradeoff is to have the CPU interpret the instructions in real time into simpler instructions sent to specialized processing units inside the CPU, and maybe even optimistic branch execution, where instructions in the pipeline are partially executed provisionally ahead of branches being confirmed. All of these things seem like tricks of the sort I wouldn’t be surprised to find parallels to in the brain.
Branch predictors for sure, but modern CPUs also do things like managing multiple layers of cache using relatively simple algorithms that nonetheless in practice get high hit rates, conversion of instructions into microcode because it turns out small, simple instructions execute faster but CPUs need to do a lot of things so the tradeoff is to have the CPU interpret the instructions in real time into simpler instructions sent to specialized processing units inside the CPU, and maybe even optimistic branch execution, where instructions in the pipeline are partially executed provisionally ahead of branches being confirmed. All of these things seem like tricks of the sort I wouldn’t be surprised to find parallels to in the brain.