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.

地球上仅在三个谱系中进化出了复杂的大脑：脊索动物（例如我们人类）、节肢动物（例如蜜蜂）和软体动物。在软体动物中，章鱼是最聪明、最聪明的。事实上，章鱼有大约 5 亿个大脑。神经元的数量相当于狗皮层中神经元的数量，就像鸟类、蝙蝠和翼龙的翅膀进化了多次一样，复杂的大脑也已经进化到了。以收敛的方式解决类似的问题，例如视觉和规划，要了解神经组织和计算的普遍原理，了解我们的大脑和也许是地球上最不同的大脑之间的共性和差异将是有益的。虽然一些解剖学工作已经朝这个方向发展，但研究章鱼认知的工作相对较少，因为章鱼不能说话，其神经活动的行为和客观测量是评估其认知的一种方法。大量的工作集中在观察章鱼的行为上，而很少有研究关注章鱼的神经生理学，这主要是因为将侵入性电极放置在章鱼体内或将非侵入性电极放置在光滑的章鱼上都是一个技术难题。该项目将重点开发一种非侵入性方法，利用水下脑电图 (EEG) 测量章鱼的神经活动。将章鱼放置在容器底部密集的固定电极上，而不是像人类脑电图那样尝试将电极放置在章鱼上，这种方法利用了章鱼自然想要占据小缝隙的事实。并凝视现场，因为它们是机会主义和隐秘的伏击猎人，就像猫一样，它们本身必须避免被吃掉。目前工作的目标是继续开发联合PI。 Besio 的三极电极技术与脑电图实验相结合，提出有关章鱼认知的问题。迄今为止，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脑电图信号中的伪影。在未来两年的资金中开发一个功能齐全的章鱼脑电图系统，收集足够的初步数据，以便在未来提出有关使用脑电图进行章鱼认知的更大提案。该项目将使科学界能够了解地球上最“外星”的大脑如何运作，有可能向科学家传授神经计算的普遍原理，这可以揭示人类大脑的工作原理，并为有益于社会的人工智能系统设计提供信息。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，并被认为值得支持。