Scientists have often turned to animals, among them Drosophila fruit flies, zebra fish and Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes, to gain biological insight and understanding. Increasingly, some researchers are suggesting octopuses' combination of smarts and sheer difference from humans could make them an ideal model for inferring common rules governing complex brain function, in addition to revealing novel neurological workarounds cephalopods have evolved. They are capable of high-order cognitive behaviors, including tool use and problem-solving, even figuring out how to unscrew jar lids to access food. Yet octopuses are extremely intelligent, with a larger brain for their body size than all animals except birds and mammals. ![]() Octopus brains lack any of the major anatomical features of vertebrate brains, and most of the animals' neurons are distributed across their arms rather than in their head. Our lineage split from that of cephalopods-the spineless class that includes octopuses, squids and cuttlefish-half a billion years ago. The research has been published in Current Biology.Humans are more closely related to dinosaurs than they are to octopuses. He said the team's ongoing research aimed to provide insights into how octopus brain structure is linked to behavior, vision and advanced cognition. Professor Justin Marshall heads the team that was first to discover the differences in brain structure, opening the door to a better understanding of the complexity and evolution of these apparently "smart" animals. The differences in brain structures between species relates to the size of the brain's surface area, with a larger surface area indicating a more complex nervous system and increased cognitive ability. "The ability to receive and respond to gestures between different species as part of collaborative hunting demonstrates that octopus species have complex cognitive abilities." "For example, collaborative hunting with reef fish has been recorded, where the octopus usually leads and coral trout join by either actively seeking prey or opportunistically snatching small organisms flushed out by the octopus. "These octopuses have some remarkably complex behaviors not known in other octopuses," Dr. The reef octopuses had a significantly larger brain with some properties similar to primates, adapted for complex visual tasks and social interaction in a busy, well-lit environment. Chung said the octopus found in deep waters had a smooth brain like marsupials and rodents, suited for its slow pace of life and limited interactions with other animals. "We investigated four species, including one deep-sea octopus, one solitary nocturnal species and two different reef dwellers active during daylight."ĭr. "The octopus is a master of camouflage, capable of solving complex tasks and their cognitive ability is said to approach that of some small mammals," Dr. He said octopus brains varied, depending on where a species lived, when it was active and if it interacted with other animals. ![]() Wen-Sung Chung from UQ's Queensland Brain Institute is part of a team that studied four octopus species using MRI techniques to produce detailed 3D images for comparing their unique brain structures.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |