Introducing the brain: rat brain develops concepts (Introduction)

by David Turell , Friday, November 03, 2023, 20:48 (175 days ago) @ David Turell

Another version:

Another study:

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/jedi-rats-move-digital-object-using-brain

"Neuroscientist and engineer Chongxi Lai, also now at Beth Israel Deaconess, Lee and colleagues trained rats to move on a spherical treadmill in the midst of a 3-D virtual world projected onto a surrounding screen. While the rats poked around their virtual world, electrodes recorded signals from nerve cells in the rats’ hippocampi, brain structures known to hold complex spatial information, among other things (SN: 10/6/14). In this way, researchers matched patterns of brain activity with spots in the virtual world.

"Next, the researchers wanted to know if the rats could imagine their way through the world. The animals were trained to mentally move a virtual cube to a twisty column, using only brain activity patterns in the hippocampus. If the rodents Jedied the cube correctly, they’d get a reward of water. In this experiment, the virtual reality world was controlled by the rats’ brains; the rats’ physical movements on the treadmill no longer mattered.

"After some training, the furry apprentices mastered the task, their brain activity showed. By activating the right pattern of cells in their hippocampi, the rats could concentrate and hold the cube near the twisty column for several seconds. In another task, the rats mentally teleported through the virtual world to reach the twisty column.

"The results are “strong evidence that rats can use imagination to perform novel, artificial tasks,” says neuroscientist Daoyun Ji of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who wasn’t involved in the new study. And it’s not just rats. “It is likely we humans imagine by activating hippocampal memories too,” he says."

Comment: just another take on the rat studies