Social monkeys sync their brains

• Autores: Helen Thomson
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 3172, 2018, pág. 15
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Rhesus macaques have been found to synchronize their brain activity when they interact--a trait that may help them learn just by watching each other. Miguel Nicolelis at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and his colleagues have developed a system that can record the activity from two monkey brains simultaneously. They used this to measure activity in the motor cortex-- which controls movement--during an experiment in which one monkey was propelled in an electric wheelchair towards a fruity treat, while a second monkey sat across the room and watched. This monkey was encouraged to pay attention by giving it more treats the more closely it watched. When the passenger monkey reached the fruit dispenser, the observer received a large juice reward. The experiment was repeated with various pairings from a group of three monkeys. The team found that specific groups of neurons showed the same pattern of activity at the same time in both monkeys' brains. This synchronization could be used to predict what was going on.