Introducing the brain: handling a large new use (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, February 07, 2022, 19:52 (1018 days ago) @ David Turell

Teaching a goldfish to drive:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-do-you-teach-a-goldfish-to-drive-first-you-need-a-vehi...

"Animal brains are flexible enough to adapt to new situations, a fundamental characteristic of all brains, neuroscientists say.

"He put a goldfish in a tank aboard a robot outfitted with computer-vision software that tracked the fish’s movement. When the fish moved inside its plexiglass pool, the robot moved with it. The fish had to learn that when it swam right, the robotic vehicle moved in that direction too.

"The fish had to use their new cognitive skills to find a target, a pink board inside a lab. In return for hitting their mark, the fish got rewarded with a pellet of food. Even when Dr. Segev’s team moved the target or added decoys to trick them, such as a blue or green board, the fish navigated to the right place, suggesting they had mastered a complex motor-memory task, Dr. Segev said.

"That’s despite the fact they had to contend with distorted vision. Their plexiglass tank warped their view of their environment.

***

"Eventually, she recruited another colleague to build her a car fit for a rodent. Out of a large plastic cereal container, rubber tires, wires and other spare parts, their ratmobile was born. The wires had to be hidden because the rats liked to chew on them, according to the researchers.

The ratmobile video:
https://m.wsj.net/video-atmo/20220203/0203robofish2/0203robofish2_1000.mp4

***

"Her aim was to figure out whether this task could be used as a model for the effects of behavioral training, or acquiring a new task, on brain function and brain health. Prior research suggests that learning new skills, like a new language or juggling, can be beneficial for brain plasticity, she said. Researchers also know that prior experience can affect learning.

"Over the course of months, she and her team got two groups of lab rats to drive the ratmobile by rewarding them with Froot Loops."

Comment: this shows that current brains of all animals can learn new physical tricks. But this not the prefrontal cortex of new sapiens brains 315,000 years ago. Huge compared to before and not immediately used to develop new conceptualizations beyond current needs for the present activities of daily living. Very simple at the time. What we now know is that addition to the brain allowed the development of our vast knowledge now without any enlargement, but shrinkage. dhw's theoretical argument doesn't hold that new conceptual requirements forced enlargement. Our huge new brain was like a sponge. The prefrontal region has a very specialized five layers of neurons, comparable to nothing previous in chimps and apes. This is what was ready for the uses that lead to our current civilization.