It seems that scientists have made a sensational discovery by studying the behavior of laboratory mice!
THE Laboratory mice are animals used in a variety of scientific research for experimental and study purposes. They are among the most commonly used animals in laboratories due to their size, life cycle, and ability to reproduce quickly. This makes them useful for short-term studies and the creation of genetically modified mouse lines
The use of laboratory mice was fundamental to advances in biomedical research, But it also raises ethical and moral questions when dealing with animals. Therefore, research with laboratory animals is subject to strict regulations. It is carried out carefully to ensure the welfare of the animals and to maximize the scientific value of the research. But let’s look in particular at a brand new discovery made while studying rat behavior in the laboratory.
A Jedi feat
Like little furry Yodas i Rats can lift digital cubes and drop them near a target. But these rats don’t use the power. They use their imagination. Neuroscientist Albert Lee and his colleagues at UCLA are studying how the brain can travel back in time by revisiting memories and jumping forward to imagine future scenarios. These processes, sometimes called “mental time travel,” are part of what makes our inner mental lives very rich and interesting, Lee says.
It appears that mice can lift digital dice and drop them near a target (biopianeta.it)
Neuroscientist and engineer Chongxi Lai, Lee and colleagues They trained rats to move on a spherical treadmill in the middle of a 3D virtual world. As the rats browsed around in their virtual world, electrodes recorded signals from nerve cells in the rats’ hippocampus. These cells are brain structures known to contain complex spatial information. In this way, the researchers mapped patterns of brain activity to points in the virtual world.
Next, the researchers wanted to know whether the rats could imagine their way through the world. The animals They were trained to mentally move a virtual cube up a rotating column. All they had to do was use patterns of brain activity in the hippocampus. In this experiment, the virtual reality world was controlled by the brains of rats.
After some training, the mice mastered the task. By activating the correct cell pattern in their hippocampi, the rats They were able to concentrate and hold the cube near the rotating column for several seconds. In another task, rats mentally teleported through the virtual world to reach the rotating column.
The results of the study
The results are “strong evidence that rats can use their imagination to perform novel and artificial tasks,” says neuroscientist Daoyun Ji. And it’s not just rats. “It is likely that we humans also imagine by activating hippocampal memory,” he says.
The hippocampus, a seahorse-shaped structure deep on both sides of the brain, is very complex yet somewhat mysterious. His work and others have shown that cells are influenced by all sorts of things that go beyond abstract spatial locations.
Electrodes implanted in different parts of the brain Man has allowed man to do this Control of computers and robot limbs, For example. Devices that integrate neural signals from the hippocampus could one day enable more abstract work, says Lee. Compared to rats, he says, “humans can probably control their hippocampus over longer periods of time with a broader repertoire.”
In short, a sensational discovery that might one day lead to humans controlling objects using only their thoughts!