Scientists implanted electrodes and a data logger directly into the octopus to successfully record brain activity as they move. The experiment is an important step forward in understanding the critter's behavior that might give clues to the basic principles needed to know how intelligence and cognition exist
The study, titled "Recording Electrical Activity from the Brain of Behaving Octopus," was published online on February 23 in the journal Current Biology.
Monitoring the Brain Activity of Octopuses is Not Easy
As per SciTech Daily, octopuses are mollusks that are part of a broad evolutionary group that includes slugs and snails. Their sophisticated brains developed independently of vertebrates, like those of other closely related cephalopods such as squid and cuttlefish. Due to that they are also commonly described as alien-like creatures.
They have also displayed their intelligence multiple times and so the group of scientists led by Dr. Tamar Gutnick from the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) is among those scientists in understanding how the brain of an octopus influences their behavior.
Dr. Gutnick said that they wanted to understand how the octopus brain works and compare them to mammals. These creatures have large brains, unique bodies, and advanced cognitive abilities that developed completely separate from vertebrates.
Yet, monitoring the brainwaves of octopuses has proven to be a significant technological problem. Since octopuses are soft-bodied, unlike vertebrates, they lack a cranium to tie the recording equipment to, preventing it from being removed.
Octopuses have eight strong and ultra-flexible limbs that can reach anywhere on their body and they usually rip the wires attached to them, Dr. Gutnick explained. As a solution, they looked for a technique to get the equipment entirely out of their reach by inserting it beneath their skin.
Measuring Octopus Brain Activity
The researchers picked Octopus cyanea, also known as the day octopus, as their model species due to its big size. According to Neuroscience News, the team sedated three octopuses and placed a logger into a hollow in the mantle's muscular wall.
The electrodes were subsequently placed into the vertical lobe and median superior frontal lobe, which is not the only most accessible part of an octopus brain but is also thought to be responsible for visual learning and memory.
The researchers chose compact and lightweight data loggers, which were originally meant to detect the brain activity of birds in flight to monitor the brain activity of octopuses even while moving. The gadgets were modified to be waterproof while remaining tiny enough to go within the octopuses. The batteries, which had to function in a low-air environment, could record continuously for up to 12 hours.
The researchers discovered various diverse patterns of brain activity. Some of them were identical in size and form to those found in mammals, while others were extremely long-lasting, sluggish oscillations that had not before been documented.
The researchers were unable to connect these brain activity patterns to particular actions shown in the movies, which is not entirely surprising because they did not compel the animals to do specific learning activities. Dr. Gutnick said that this region is connected to learning and memory.
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