For the first time, researchers inserted sensors into an octopus's cranium.
It only generated more inquiries.
Octopuses are among the most adored marine life due to their peculiar
bodies, blobby form, and exceptional intellect. The 2020 documentary "My
Octopus Teacher" won numerous awards for its moving account of a filmmaker's
close bond with an octopus. The paradoxical nature of the octopus
contributes to its allure; despite having an eerily extraterrestrial
appearance, they exhibit an incredible capacity for inquiry and
problem-solving, which are unquestionably human qualities. In the intellect
of cephalopods, humans perceive something familiar but distorted, like a
funhouse reflection of self-awareness.
Those recognizable, pliable tendrils are packed with neurons as well, which
enables octopus limbs
to act as though they have free will. But because they aren't structured in the same way that monkey minds are,
their brains are particularly bizarre. Many believe that because of how
differently their sophisticated neuroscience developed from our own, humans
will never actually come into
contact with sentient extraterrestrial life.
Consequently, animal neuroscientists research octopus brains, and
lesioning experiments
are one of the primary ways we've learned about octopus brains. At this
point, scientists deliberately harm the creature's brain by selectively
killing neural networks to observe what stops functioning. In reality,
ablative brain surgery—which involved carefully excising specific regions of animal brains and
noting which appendages or body parts stopped working—is primarily how early
neuroscientists got their footing when they first mapped the brain.
However, since brains are so intricate, this crude method of severing
neuronal links oversimplifies how they function. Luckily, we now have more
effective tools for understanding how brain works, particularly the fMRI
machine. These devices, also known as fMRIs (for functional magnetic
resonance imaging), enable researchers to observe in real-time and in three
dimensions how synapses activate when a person is thinking or moving their
body. They are incredibly effective instruments for expanding human
knowledge of cognition in both people and creatures. Dogs, for example,
can be taught
to remain still in the obtrusive fMRI machine long enough for researchers to
record their brain activity in reaction to various stimuli.
However, it is difficult to examine the brain in real time of wild
creatures like octopuses. It would be ideal if we could measure electrical
impulses while observing a related behavior to capture octopus brain
activity, similar to when we place humans or canines in fMRI scanners. But
when tampering with the minds of slippery, cunning mollusks like octopuses,
it is easier said than done. (Yes, octopuses share a number of similarities
with snails and clams in addition to being linked to squids and
cuttlefish.)
Thanks to the efforts of a multinational team from Germany, Italy, Japan,
Switzerland, and Ukraine, scientists have now for the first time discovered
a method to record the brain activity of free-moving octopuses. Their
research describes a novel technique for recording cephalopod brain activity
for up to 12 hours, which was just published in the journal
Current Biology. Despite the fact that this exercise was ground-breaking, it is still
unclear precisely what these signals signify.
"Octopuses are the ideal species to research in order to compare to mammals
in order to comprehend how the brain functions. They have a large brain, an
incredibly distinctive body, and highly developed cognitive abilities that
have evolved entirely differently from those of vertebrates "In a statement,
the study's lead author, Dr. Tamar Gutnick, a former postdoctoral researcher
in the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology's Physics and Biology
Unit,
said.
Three large blue octopuses (octopus cyanea), which frequently look mottled
brown but have
excellent camouflage
and the ability to rapidly change their color and skin texture, were chosen
by the experts for this experiment. These equatorial cephalopods are
sometimes referred to as "day octopuses" because they forage during the day.
Amazingly, octopuses
lack a sense of hue. So how do they know when to change into a coral fragment or a pinkish
fuchsia hue? They are able to detect the polarization, or the various ways
that light waves move. Even their most fundamental perspective differs
greatly from ours.
It was difficult to imagine what was going on in their brains. Octopuses
don't have skulls, so their brains are enclosed in a tiny chitin shell. On an object without a cranium where electrical lines can be fixed,
installing an electrode implant is difficult. Octopuses (not octopi,
which is the proper word) are bony invertebrates that can fit into even the smallest of crevices,
earning them the reputation of being
excellent escape artists.
The fact that an octopus can readily pull something off of its body with
one of its eight limbs adds to the difficulty of the situation. Therefore,
it has not been feasible to capture the electrical activity of octopuses to
this point.
However, the researchers came up with an interesting solution by implanting
a data logger (originally intended to monitor avian movement) and a few
electrodes to measure brain activity. The devices were glued onto a plastic
card and first introduced after the researchers made a tiny incision between
the animal's eyes. They were inserted into the vertical lobe and middle
superior frontal lobe of the octopus's brain. This region is thought to be involved in recollection and learning as well as the formation of new brain
cells.
The octopuses were then put back in their aquariums and left to rest while
being recorded. They awoke shortly after, acting ordinarily while they
slept, groomed, or explored their tanks. Some people examined their wounds
with their limbs, but they made no effort to take the logger or the
electrodes out.
Clear signs of brain activity were detected by Gutnick and his team, but it
is still difficult to interpret these patterns. While some of the octopus
brain waves had characteristics of human brain activity, other signals from
their neurons were utterly strange. There was comparatively significant
electrical activity present because these oscillations were slow,
long-lasting, and had big amplitudes. These have not previously been
documented.
Sadly, the scientists were unable to establish a direct link between this
action and the octopuses' behavior. Despite abrupt changes in motion or
staying still, the octopuses were unable to detect any apparent changes in
signal even when they were moving around. Although there are still many
unanswered questions, this proof of concept could be used to learn more
about many other octopuses, including other varieties. We may soon discover
a lot more about how octopuses communicate, acquire knowledge, and
manipulate their limbs.
It might have been simpler to tease out connections between brain activity
and behavior if the researchers had given these octopuses more focused
duties as opposed to just allowing them goof off. Gutnick insisted, "With
the octopuses, we really need to practice repeated memorization exercises.
We hope to accomplish that very shortly!"
Because they are such strange and unusual animals, octopuses have a lot to
teach us about human thought and evolution. Research in artificial
intelligence and neuroplasticity, or the capacity for the brain to
reorganize, heal, and reinforce links, could benefit from the application of
the principles learned from cephalopod neurobiology. However, it is evident
that our knowledge of what occurs inside an octopus brain is still
limited.
