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Lab Rats Given "Sixth Sense"

Posted by samzenpus on from the because-they-can dept.

puddingebola writes "Researchers have given lab rats the ability to sense infrared light through a brain implant. From the article, 'They taught the rats to choose the active light source by poking their noses into a port to receive a sip of water as a reward. They then implanted the microelectrodes, each about a tenth the diameter of a human hair, into the animals' brains. These electrodes were attached to the infrared detectors. The scientists then returned the animals to the test chamber. At first, the rats scratched at their faces, indicating that they were interpreting the lights as touch. But after a month, the animals learned to associate the signal in their brains with the infrared source.'"

23 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Tracking and identifying by roboticon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Interestingly the electrodes were implanted in the "tactile information" processor, so the infrared light is interpreted as touch. That would seem to mean that in "tracking" the source of the signal, the rats meander until the infrared light hits their eyes, and then head toward it as the strength of the touch signal increases.

    TFA says "a new sensory input can be interpreted by a region of the brain that normally does something else," but isn't the input just being "converted" into the sense of touch by activating that region of the brain?

    1. Re:Tracking and identifying by TheLink · · Score: 4, Informative

      You see with your brain too. If someone draws a simple picture on your palm or back, you can still "see" it in your mind.

      See also: http://discovermagazine.com/2003/jun/feattongue
      The brain is able to learn to see whether the picture is generated by touch or sound.

      And even with sound there are different ways for seeing,
      echolocation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLziFMF4DHA
      and some software that converts images to pitch and left-right volume: http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm

      Maybe what they could try is implant a sensory array to baby/young rats and see if they can add a extra video input to rats.

      --
    2. Re:Tracking and identifying by AK+Marc · · Score: 4, Interesting

      If you receive conflicting information, your brain will file it conveniently. "Touch" brain activated by light can be re-wired to be forwarded to vision. That was part of the result. They initially acted at first like it was "felt" as a touch. Later, they acted as if it was "seen".

      --
      Learn to love Alaska
    3. Re:Tracking and identifying by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Figure 2A: Learning curve for IR-only trials. Graph shows percentage of correct trials as a function of session number (130 sessions in four rats). Black circles/lines indicate mean/s.e.m. for blocks of three sessions."

      And there are 15 datapoints if you look at the chart. So there should be 4*3*15=180 sessions, yet there are only 130 total. That makes it seem like they failed to collect data on 27% of trials for some reason. What is the explanation for this? I mean stuff happens so its fine to be missing some sessions, but I can't find an explanation in any obvious place and it seems like an obvious thing to notice.

      Has Nature once again failed to publish a report it is possible for the reader to reasonably interpret?

  2. It is not 6 by markdavis · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why is that stupid term "Sixth Sense" still used?

    1) Sight
    2) Hearing
    3) Touch
    4) Taste
    5) Smell
    6) Balance
    7) Temperature
    and there are several others. So it is not a "Sixth Sense"

    1. Re:It is not 6 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You forgot 8) Humor

    2. Re:It is not 6 by Guppy06 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why is that stupid term "Sixth Sense" still used?

      About 3000 years or so of cultural heritage, combined with general apathy on the subject from the public at large. The alliteration doesn't hurt, either.

      Have fun tilting at those windmills.

    3. Re:It is not 6 by nxcho · · Score: 5, Funny

      Actually Nr.6 is reserved for future use. 1) Sight 2) Hearing 3) Touch 4) Taste 5) Smell 6) 7) Temperature 8) Balance 9) Autokinectic etc

      --
      When asked why, the answer is almost always: "It's 2014".
    4. Re:It is not 6 by markdavis · · Score: 3, Interesting

      >I used to think this as well, but balance is derived from touch (it's the movement of hair in your inner ear) and temperature would be as well.

      I totally disagree. Balance is a separate function that can be had or lost, separately from touch (pressure). And temperature really has nothing to do with touch. If you were going to go that route, then smell and taste are the same, since they are both chemical detection receptors. And hearing and balance and touch are the same because they ALL involve moment detection.

      All these things come from nerve sensations, but that doesn't make them the same sense.

    5. Re:It is not 6 by holophrastic · · Score: 2

      Well, you beat me to this. But I can answer the question.

      Because in kindergarten -- or elementary school if your school system sucks -- very young children are taught 5. They are taught 5 because they are very young, and teaching 20 would be difficult.

      Unfortunately, you live in a world where adults forget that what was taught in school isn't anywhere near complete. So they think there are 5 senses, atoms are round, primary colours are red, yellow, blue, and tarrot cards mean something.

      What we need to do is not to teach these adults. What we need to do is to inform their life coaches. Let the life coaches teach them.

    6. Re:It is not 6 by Frontier+Owner · · Score: 2

      temperature and sight are both electro-magnetic energy sensations. taste and smell are both chemical sensations.hearing is mechanical vibrations. touch is a mechanical sensation. balance is a force sensation. All the scientist have done is train the mice to detect levels of electro-magnetic energy that is outside their normal range.

    7. Re:It is not 6 by ldobehardcore · · Score: 2

      Yeah. Often Temperature is folded into touch, and balance is folded into a more general category of proprioception which includes the ability to tell the position and motion of body parts in space without having to look at them all the time, as well as whether the body parts are touching each other or moving on an intersecting path.

      Personally I think smell and taste should be folded together. Really bad smells are often tasted, and without a sense of smell, taste loses so much acuity all it's really useful for is detecting whether something's poisonous.

      --
      Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
  3. Can they get me by johnnyb · · Score: 3, Funny

    The ability to sense when my children are misbehaving? That would be more helpful than infrared, I think.

    --
    Engineering and the Ultimate
    1. Re:Can they get me by camperdave · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Children misbehaving? That's easy. Listen for a drop in the background noise levels. When they're quiet, they're up to something.

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  4. Would it *HAVE* to map to an existing sense? by mark-t · · Score: 2

    Or could it wind up mapping to something completely different, as the brain learns to interpret the signals?

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
  5. N.I.M.H. by Psibur · · Score: 2

    God I hope one of them is named Nicodemus and becomes...intelligent.

  6. Flowers for by c0lo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Nicodemus and becomes...intelligent.

    Algernon (was the first).

    --
    Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
  7. So they can... by Brad1138 · · Score: 4, Funny

    See dead people?

    --
    If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
    1. Re:So they can... by Arancaytar · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, but they can see red people.

      (*rimshot*)

  8. Tagged "Entertainment"? WTF by jimmydevice · · Score: 2

    Why is this tagged entertainment? Have the DICE corporate sociopaths and marketdroids finally twisted the knife?

  9. Re:this is opening the door by Lotana · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Only if you choose to see it this way.

    I see brain-computer interface as a monumental step to improving our lives. We can construct sensors for virtually every stimuli there is, but could never reach the level of comfort and impressiveness that our natural senses give us. But with this, imagine what we can do for those people that lose their limbs, eyes or suffer horrific burns to their skin. We may even be able to restore movement to people with paralysis!

    Imagine being able to interact with your desktop without risk of Repetitive Stress Injuries. Imagine having the ability to directly jack in to robots in hostile environments. Imagine what kind of augmentations we can add. This could even be first steps towards having a choice of immortality!

    Biotech is such a quickly developing area. It is a very exciting time to be alive! You just need to avoid focusing on only negatives. Every scientific development has both good and bad sides: Nuclear fission did bring us terrifying weapons, but also a source of energy.

  10. Re:At least watch the video by camperdave · · Score: 2

    The way the rats responded to the stimulus, was... unnerving.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  11. Re:this is opening the door by DarkRat · · Score: 2

    I've got synesthesia, I already see sound