A research study performed by researchers at Johns Hopkins has observed that organisms ranging from microbes and fish to canines and humans exhibit comparable patterns of movement to understand their surroundings. Electric knifefish, in particular, showed changes in motion patterns based on light levels to much better sense their environment. This sensory-dependent habits was found to be consistent throughout different organisms like bats, human beings, and amoebas.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins found constant sensory-dependent movements across varied organisms, from microorganisms to humans, with possible applications in robotics.
An electrical knifefish vibrates in the water for the very same factor a canine smells or a human glimpses around a new location– to make sense of their surroundings. For the very first time, scientists demonstrate that a vast array of organisms, even microorganisms, perform the exact same pattern of motions in order to pick up the world.
” Amoeba do not even have a nervous system, and yet they adopt behavior that has a lot in typical with a humans postural balance or fish hiding in a tube,” said author Noah Cowan, a professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins. “These organisms are quite far apart from each other in the tree of life, recommending that evolution assembled on the same option through really various underlying systems.”
A study carried out by researchers at Johns Hopkins has actually observed that organisms ranging from microbes and fish to humans and pet dogs display similar patterns of movement to understand their surroundings. Electric knifefish, in specific, displayed modifications in motion patterns based on light levels to better sense their environment. This sensory-dependent behavior was found to be consistent across different organisms like bats, human beings, and amoebas.
In the light, they still make such fast movements, simply far less regularly.
We found the statistical qualities of those movements are ubiquitous throughout a broad variety of animals, including human beings.”
The research, which has implications for cognition and robotics, is published in Nature Machine Intelligence.
An observation tank illuminated by infrared shows electric knifefish behavior with the lights on (leading) and lights off (bottom). Credit: Johns Hopkins University
Motions for Perception and Robotics
The findings stem from the groups efforts to figure out what the nerve system does when animals move to improve their perception of the world, and whether that behavior could be equated to robotic control systems.
While watching electric knifefish in an observation tank, the researchers noticed how when it was dark, the fish shimmied backward and forward considerably more often. The fish swayed gently with just occasional bursts of fast motion when lights were on.
Knifefish in the wild are hardwired to find haven to avoid predators. They discharge weak electrical discharges to notice their place and discover shelter. Wiggling quickly allows them to actively sense their surroundings, especially in dark water. In the light, they still make such fast motions, just far less frequently.
” We discovered that the very best method is to briefly switch into explore mode when uncertainty is too high, and after that change back to make use of mode when uncertainty is back down,” said very first author Debojyoti Biswas, a Johns Hopkins postdoctoral scientist.
Linking Behavior Across Species
This is the very first time scientists analyzed this mode-switching technique in fish. Its also the first time anybody has actually linked this habits across species.
The group produced a model that imitates the essential sensing behaviors, and using work from other laboratories, found the very same sensory-dependent motions in other organisms. Animals that shared the behavior with the fish consisted of amoeba, moths, cockroaches, moles, mice, bats, and people.
” Not a single research study that we found in the literature violated the guidelines we found in the electric fish, not even single-celled organisms like amoeba picking up an electric field,” Cowan said.
Scientists are just starting to comprehend how animals manage picking up motions automatically. The group suspects all organisms have brain calculations that handle uncertainty.
” If you go to a supermarket, youll see people standing in line will alter between being fixed and moving while waiting,” Cowan said. “We think thats the exact same thing going on, that to maintain a stable balance you actually need to occasionally move around and excite your sensing units like the knifefish. We discovered the analytical attributes of those motions are ubiquitous throughout a vast array of animals, including people.”
The team expects the findings can be utilized to improve search and rescue drones, space rovers, and other autonomous robots.
Next, they will evaluate whether their insights are true for other living things– even plants.
Reference: “Mode changing in organisms for resolving explore-versus-exploit problems” 26 October 2023, Nature Machine Intelligence.DOI: 10.1038/ s42256-023-00745-y.
Authors include Andrew Lamperski of the University of Minnesota Minneapolis; Yu Yang of Johns Hopkins; Kathleen Hoffman of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County; John Guckenheimer of Cornell University; and Eric S. Fortune of the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Funding: Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation.