<
https://www.sciencealert.com/incredible-experiment-reveals-how-rats-use-their-imagination>
'Rats use their imaginations in a similar way to humans, a new study shows –
meaning their thoughts aren't always fixed on what's immediately in front of
them, but can also travel in space and time.
It's something that we do naturally, transporting ourselves to other places,
recalling past events, or visualizing future scenarios in our minds. This seem
to mostly take place in a part of the brain called the hippocampus, and
researchers have now shown similar activity in the hippocampus of rats, too.
A team from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) used virtual reality
(VR) combined with a brain-machine interface to determine if the rodents could
think about traveling to a certain location to pick up a reward of water, even
if they weren't actually moving there.
"To imagine is one of the remarkable things that humans can do," says
neurologist Albert Lee from HHMI. "Now we have found that animals can do it
too, and we found a way to study it."'
Via Rixty Dixet.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
