” The octopus arms have a neural ring that bypasses the brain, therefore the arms can send details to each other without the brain understanding it,” stated behavioural neuroscientist Dominic Sivitilli of the University of Washington.
This means the brain might not even know what all the arms are doing while the arms are sort of doing their own service.
When they looked at the brain activity of octopuses, scientists discovered the most curious thing. When the octopus arms and suckers were collecting info apparently individually, the brain didnt do a thing.
In order to figure this out, the scientists tracked the behavior and brains of octopuses as they explored and foraged. Often, the arms moved in sync, recommending arranged decision-making. When they looked at the brain activity of octopuses, researchers found the most curious thing. When the octopus arms and suckers were collecting details apparently separately, the brain didnt do a thing.
Octopuses are, from everything we understand about them, precisely that– a different kind of intelligence.
” One of the huge picture questions we have is simply how a distributed nerve system would work, particularly when its attempting to do something complicated, like move through fluid and discover food on an intricate ocean floor,” stated neuroscientist David Gire of the University of Washington.
To put it simply, the octopus brain is not even knowledgeable about what the arm is doing, which is tough to even fathom.
This sensational capability isnt even all that unexpected for octopus researchers, as its been suggested several times in the past. However it postures some crucial concerns about what intelligence really implies, and whether intelligence really various from ours can exist.
Octopuses are frequently considered an alien type of intelligence, because theyre so different from animals we generally consider wise. They progressed in a different way than basically any other organism on Earth. With their ability to fix cognitive puzzles and their remarkably imaginative behavior, theyre absolutely wise creatures.
” So while the brain isnt quite sure where the arms are in space, the arms understand where each other are and this permits the arms to collaborate throughout actions like crawling mobility.”
Essentially, the anxious system inside the octopus arms can bypass the brain and communicate with each other.
Alien intelligence
Recent research reveals octopuses may be much more alien-like than we thought. Obviously, much of the anxious system associated with decision-making is really not focused in the brain however dispersed throughout the body. Basically, their arms can make their own decisions.
But it gets back at more interesting. Much of these neurons can interact with each other without going through the brain. Essentially, the nervous system inside the octopus arms can bypass the brain and communicate with each other.
Cephalopods, the group that consists of octopuses and squids, developed some 530 million years ago. Its a group of invertebrates, which means they lack a spinal column– currently, a key distinction from creatures like dolphins or humans. However it gets even weirder.
” There are a great deal of open concerns about how these nodes in the nerve system are connected to each other.”
The word was presented at the Astrobiology Science Conference.
” What were taking a look at, more than whats been looked at in the past, is how sensory info is being incorporated in this network while the animal is making complicated choices.”
” Its an alternative model for intelligence,” Sivitilli said. “It provides us an understanding as to the variety of cognition in the world, and possibly the Universe.”
Instead of having a central nerve system, the octopus anxious system is spread throughout its body. Two-thirds of its nerve cells are not inside its brain. Researchers arent even sure how this system can work, however it does.
Image credits: Sebastian Niedlich.
” Youre seeing a great deal of little decisions being made by these dispersed ganglia, simply by watching the arm relocation, so among the first things were doing is trying to break down what that motion in fact looks like, from a computational point of view,” Gire stated.