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

复杂的大脑在地球上只进化出三种谱系：脊索动物，比如我们人类，节肢动物，比如蜜蜂，以及软体动物。在软体动物中，章鱼是最聪明、最聪明的。事实上，章鱼大约有5亿个神经元，这与狗大脑皮层的神经元数量相当。就像鸟类、蝙蝠和翼龙的翅膀进化了很多次一样，复杂的大脑也进化到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，了解我们的大脑和可能是地球上最不同的大脑——章鱼的大脑之间的共性和差异将是有益的。虽然一些解剖学研究已经朝这个方向发展，但研究章鱼认知的工作相对较少。因为章鱼不会说话，所以对它们神经活动的行为和客观测量是评估它们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。对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在光滑的章鱼皮肤上放置非侵入性电极在技术上是一个困难的问题，特别是当它们可以很容易地用手臂移除它们时。该项目将致力于开发一种非侵入性的方法，利用水下脑电图（EEG）来测量章鱼的神经活动。研究人员将把章鱼放在一个容器地板上密集排列的固定电极上，而不是像在人类脑电图中那样试图把电极放在章鱼身上。这种方法利用了章鱼天生想要占据一个小缝隙并向外窥视的事实，因为它们是机会主义的、隐秘的伏击猎人，就像猫一样，它们自己也必须避免被吃掉。目前工作的目标是继续发展co-PI Besio的三极电极技术，在一个互动循环中与脑电图实验一起提出关于章鱼认知的问题。到目前为止，该团队一直在努力解决各种技术问题，比如盐水引起的腐蚀，或者水引入的脑电图信号中的伪影。该团队的目标是在未来两年的资金支持下开发出一个功能齐全的章鱼脑电图系统，以收集足够的初步数据，以便在未来使用脑电图进行章鱼认知的更大提案。这个项目将让科学界了解地球上最“外星”的大脑是如何运作的，可能会教会科学家神经计算的普遍原理，这可能会揭示人类大脑是如何工作的，也会为人工智能系统的设计提供信息，从而造福社会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.