Scientists have measured the minds of fruit flies. But why?

There are some questions, the answers to which the greatest minds of the planet are looking for not the first century. So, the question of what dominates the consciousness not only of philosophers but also physicists, however, the common definition of consciousness is still there, and the approaches to its study and the study of those who have this consciousness has, constantly changing, because scientists are still not sure whether endowed with consciousness all animals or only representatives of Homo Sapiens. The results of a new study propose to go even further, as physicists for the first time in history, failed… to measure the consciousness of a fruit fly! The research claims to have discovered a method of quantitative measurement of consciousness. Sounds like science fiction, so let's deal.

Insects have consciousness?

If you, like me, do not like insects, it may seem a little creepy: according to the results of the study in 2016, published in the journal insects have consciousness. According to a team of researchers from Macquarie University in Australia, flies and fleas are capable of «subjective feelings», which are one .

To such conclusion scientists have studied the brains of flies, made in a region of the midbrain, which is located inside of the folds of the cerebral cortex. Using these images, they compared the fly's brain with the brains of other animals and found that a fly's brain has a similar structure with the human brain. This, the authors write, allows them to model the world in the same way as we do. Well, no wonder the protagonist of the film «Fly» was so encouraged by his GM… rebirth.

In humans and other vertebrates there is good evidence that the average brain is responsible for the capacity for subjective experience. The cortex of the brain determines much of what we realize, but first and foremost this is due to the mid-brain. It makes it very rough to form one cohesive picture of the world from a unified point of view.

Lead author of the study Colin Klein to Discovery News.

it Turns out that the underlying neural signals that fruit flies are similar to human

Moreover, Klein and his team came to the conclusion that flies are also self-centered, because they selectively pay attention to certain things – it helps them survive. Agree, on this background, the news of the entry of the consciousness of the flies is not so surprising.

A Study published in the journal , led to the emergence of a new approach to the measurement of consciousness that potentially changes our understanding of the complex neurological problems. The paper describes how with the help of physics, scientists were able to measure the level of consciousness in fruit flies. Flies, which are commonly used in biological research, apparently, had different, measurable levels of consciousness that you can catch in neural recordings.

a New approach to the study of consciousness

The Research team from Monash University NAO Tsuchiya found a way to measure the level of conscious arousal in fruit flies using complex signals produced by the brain. The new technique allows to distinguish between flies that were anesthetized, and those that were not, calculating the time complexity of the signals, the researchers report in the official .

«This is a very important study as it emphasizes an objective way of measuring the conscious excitement, connecting to a small region of the brain, not to many of his parts,» the authors write scientific articles. It also suggests that in the brain there is a clear sign of deliberate excitation, which does not depend on specific external stimuli. The researchers also concluded that the use of similar analyses on other datasets, in particular to EEG of the person, can lead to new discoveries regarding consciousness.

Even these guys have consciousness, what can we say about other animals

In the course of the work the research team examined the brain signals that produce 13 fruit flies during wakefulness and under anesthesia. Then they analyzed the tones to see how they are complicated. Essentially, the complexity of the neural signals of the flies was associated with their level of conscious arousal. From waking flies brain activity was more complex than that of those who were under anesthesia and these signals can serve as a basis for future research.

To Measure the human consciousness is much more complicated — in the fly's brain is approximately 100 000 cells and in human $ 86 billion. However, the researchers hope that in the future they will be able to advance in the research of consciousness and the human brain. What do you think, what is consciousness and can it be measured? Response

According to the portal , one of the main challenges of neuroscience is the distinction unresponsive vegetative patients and those who suffer from a condition called «locked syndrome of man» – when celownik is conscious but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis of nearly all muscles in the body.

Ohso these fruit flies: they have the consciousness of the record, the circadian rhythms will open