Collaborative Research: NCS-FO: Electroencephalography of Octopus bimaculoides using frequency tagging

合作研究：NCS-FO：使用频率标签对双斑章鱼进行脑电图检查

• 批准号: 2122637
• 负责人: Walter Besio
• 金额: $ 10.08万
• 依托单位: University of Rhode Island
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-08-15 至 2023-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122637&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; NCS; FO; Electroencephalography

Complex brains have evolved in only three lineages on planet earth: chordates, such as ourselves, arthropods, such as honeybees, and molluscs. Among the molluscs the octopus stands out as the brainiest and smartest. In fact, an octopus has about half a billion neurons, which is comparable to the number of neurons in the cortex of a dog. Just as wings evolved many times, in the birds, bats and pterodons, complex brains have evolved to solve similar problems, such as vision and planning, in convergent ways. To understand universal principles of neural organization and computation, it would be beneficial to learn about the commonalities and differences between our brains and perhaps the most different brain on the planet, that of the octopus. While some anatomical work has moved in this direction, there has been a relative paucity of work looking at octopus cognition. Because octopuses cannot talk, Behavior and objective measurements of their neural activity is one way to assess their cognition. A great deal of work has focused on observing octopus behavior. Relatively little research has focused on octopus neurophysiology, primarily because it is a technically difficult issue to either place invasive electrodes inside an octopus, or to place non-invasive electrodes on slippery octopus skin, especially when they can easily remove them with their arms.This project will focus on developing a non-invasive way to get measurements of octopus neural activity using underwater electroencephalography (EEG). Researchers will place the octopuses on densely packed, fixed electrodes on the floor of a container, rather than attempting to place electrodes on the octopus, as one does in human EEG. This approach takes advantage of the fact that octopuses naturally want to occupy a small crevice and peer out onto the scene, because they are opportunistic and stealthy ambush hunters, rather like cats, who themselves have to avoid being eaten. The goal of the present work is to continue to develop co-PI Besio’s tripolar electrode technology in an interactive cycle with EEG experiments that ask questions about octopus cognition. To date, the team has struggled with various technical problems such as corrosion caused by saltwater, or artifacts in the EEG signal introduced by water. The team’s goal is to develop a fully functioning octopus EEG system over the next two years of funding, to gather sufficient preliminary data to put in a larger proposal concerning octopus cognition using EEG in the future. This project will allow the scientific community to learn how the most 'alien' brain on earth functions, potentially teaching scientists about universal principles of neural computation, which could shed light on how human brains work and also inform design in artificial intelligence systems that could benefit society.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

地球上只有三种谱系进化出了复杂的大脑：脊索动物，比如人类，节肢动物，比如蜜蜂，还有软体动物。在软体动物中，章鱼是最聪明的。事实上，一只章鱼大约有5亿个神经元，这与一只狗大脑皮层中的神经元数量相当。就像翅膀进化了很多次一样，在鸟类、蝙蝠和翼龙中，复杂的大脑已经进化成以收敛的方式解决类似的问题，比如视觉和规划。为了理解神经组织和计算的普遍原理，了解我们的大脑与地球上最不同的大脑--章鱼的大脑之间的共性和差异是有益的。虽然一些解剖学工作已经朝着这个方向发展，但在章鱼认知方面的工作相对较少。由于章鱼不能说话，因此对其神经活动的行为和客观测量是评估其认知能力的一种方法。大量的工作集中在观察章鱼的行为上。章鱼神经生理学的研究相对较少，主要是因为在章鱼体内放置侵入性电极，或者在光滑的章鱼皮肤上放置非侵入性电极是一个技术难题，特别是当它们可以很容易地用手臂移除它们时。本项目将专注于开发一种使用水下脑电图（EEG）测量章鱼神经活动的非侵入性方法。研究人员将把章鱼放在容器地板上密集的固定电极上，而不是像人类脑电图那样试图在章鱼身上放置电极。这种方法利用了这样一个事实，即章鱼自然希望占据一个小裂缝并窥视现场，因为它们是机会主义和隐形的伏击猎人，就像猫一样，它们自己必须避免被吃掉。目前工作的目标是继续开发合作PI Besio的三极电极技术，并与EEG实验进行交互循环，询问有关章鱼认知的问题。到目前为止，该团队一直在努力解决各种技术问题，例如盐水引起的腐蚀，或水引入的EEG信号中的伪影。该团队的目标是在未来两年的资助下开发一个功能齐全的章鱼EEG系统，收集足够的初步数据，以便在未来提出一个关于使用EEG进行章鱼认知的更大提案。这个项目将使科学界能够了解地球上最“外星人”的大脑是如何运作的，有可能教会科学家神经计算的普遍原理，该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值进行评估，被认为值得支持和更广泛的影响审查标准。