By Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
February 23, 2023
Octopuses are mollusks, a big evolutionary group to which snails and slugs likewise belong. Their complex brains, and those of other closely-related cephalopods, like squid and cuttlefish, have actually developed individually from vertebrates, and so octopuses are frequently referred to as alien-like. Here, a day octopus (Octopus cyanea) poses with a Shisa, an animal from Okinawan folklore. Credit: Michael Kuba
Scientists have actually determined how to catch brain activity in octopuses that are awake and moving– an advancement action in comprehending how the brain manages their habits.
By implanting electrodes and an information logger straight into the creatures, researchers have achieved the exceptional achievement of tape-recording brain activity from octopuses while they move easily.
Released online in the journal Current Biology on February 23, the research study represents an important action forward in determining how octopus brains control their behavior, and could provide hints to the common principles required for intelligence and cognition to occur.
” If we wish to comprehend how the brain works, octopuses are the best animal to study as a comparison to mammals. They have a big brain, a surprisingly unique body, and advanced cognitive capabilities that have developed entirely in a different way from those of vertebrates,” stated Dr. Tamar Gutnick, first author and former postdoctoral researcher in the Physics and Biology Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST).
The scientists recorded the brain activity of an octopus for 12 hours. Here, the octopus remains in active sleep, a phase in which there are rapid changes in color and texture, in addition to quick sucker motion. Credit: Current Biology
Measuring the brainwaves of octopuses has shown a genuine technical challenge. Unlike vertebrates, octopuses are soft-bodied, so they have no skull to anchor the recording equipment onto, to prevent it from being gotten rid of.
” Octopuses have eight powerful and ultra-flexible arms, which can reach absolutely anywhere on their body,” said Dr. Gutnick. “If we tried to connect wires to them, they would right away rip if off, so we required a method of getting the equipment completely out of their reach, by positioning it under their skin.”
The researchers chosen lightweight and small information loggers as the option, which were initially designed to track the brain activity of birds during flight. The team adapted the devices to make them water resistant, however still little enough to easily fit inside the octopuses. The batteries, which required to work in a low-air environment, permitted up to 12 hours of constant recording.
The day octopus, Octopus cyanea, camouflages itself versus the coral reef. Credit: Keishu Asada
The scientists picked Octopus cyanea, more frequently understood as the day octopus, as their design animal, due to its larger size. The researchers then implanted the electrodes into an area of the octopus brain called the vertical lobe and average superior frontal lobe, which is the most available location.
Once the surgical treatment was total, the octopuses were returned to their home tank and kept track of by video. After 5 minutes, the octopuses had actually recuperated and spent the following 12 hours sleeping, consuming and moving around their tank, as their brain activity was tape-recorded. The logger and electrodes were then gotten rid of from the octopuses, and the information was synchronized to the video.
The researchers identified a number of distinct patterns of brain activity, a few of which were similar in size and shape to those seen in mammals, whilst others were very lasting, slow oscillations that have actually not been described before.
The scientists were not yet able to connect these brain activity patterns to particular habits from the videos. However, this is not completely surprising, Dr. Gutnick discussed, as they didnt require the animals to do particular learning jobs.
” This is a location thats associated with knowing and memory, so in order to explore this circuit, we really need to do repetitive, memory jobs with the octopuses. Thats something were hoping to do soon!”
The researchers also believe that this method of recording brain activity from freely moving octopuses can be used in other octopus types and might assist solve questions in many other locations of octopus cognition, consisting of how they learn, interact socially, and manage the movement of their body and arms.
“Octopus are so smart, however right now, we know so little about how their brains work. This method suggests we now have the capability to peer into their brain while they are doing specific jobs.
Recommendation: “Recording Electrical Activity from the Brain of Behaving Octopus” by Tamar Gutnick, Andreas Neef, Andrii Cherninskyi, Fabienne Ziadi-Kunzli, Anna Di Cosmo, Hans-Peter Lipp and Michael Kuba, 23 February 2023, Current Biology.DOI: 10.2139/ ssrn.4309084.
The study included a worldwide cooperation in between scientists in Japan, Italy, Germany, Ukraine, and Switzerland.
Here, a day octopus (Octopus cyanea) positions with a Shisa, a creature from Okinawan folklore. The researchers taped the brain activity of an octopus for 12 hours. The scientists selected Octopus cyanea, more commonly understood as the day octopus, as their model animal, due to its bigger size. The scientists then implanted the electrodes into an area of the octopus brain called the vertical lobe and mean remarkable frontal lobe, which is the most available area. After 5 minutes, the octopuses had recuperated and spent the following 12 hours sleeping, moving and consuming around their tank, as their brain activity was tape-recorded.
