In Star Trek: The Next Generation, what type of brain does the android Data possess?

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the android Data possesses a positronic brain.

Data was created by the scientist Noonien Soong and first appeared in the 1987 series premiere, “Encounter at Farpoint.” His positronic brain is the fictional computational foundation of his memory, reasoning, perception, and learning. The concept draws on the word “positron,” the antimatter counterpart of the electron, although the series does not provide a real engineering design for such a device.

Data’s brain is central to several stories about artificial intelligence, personhood, and machine consciousness. His abilities are extraordinary, but his positronic design is not identical to human thought: Data repeatedly studies human behavior, emotion, humor, and social customs.

The answer is sometimes confused with duotronic circuitry, an earlier Star Trek computer concept associated with the original Enterprise. Data’s canonical brain is specifically positronic, a term also used for other Soong androids and related artificial life-forms.