Photo Credit: Earth.com
I knew my pets were smack-talking me behind my back!
Just like human beings have the ability to pick up social cues from someone else, it is now being reported that animals may have this same ability.
The study was performed on Egyptian fruit bats and mice. Studies have shown that during natural social engagement, animals’ social behavior was able to be predicted based on observations. For obvious reasons, the study of the human brain is very difficult and complex but having animals that are showing signs similar to their human counterparts could prove to be extremely beneficial to science moving forward.
Bats were a good choice to study because they are very social beings and live in environments that promote that socialization. They were an easy target to study these social behavior patterns and compare them to what human beings do.
Think of anytime that you have been in a social situation. Don’t you immediately survey the room and decide which behavior is going to be appropriate based on the people involved? Our brain has the ability to take that input in and produce an output that reacts to the situation appropriately.
Scientists were able to study the mice up close and personal to look for this transition of behavior based on the conditions they were placed in. They noticed that if mice were acting in one way, others that were added to the group would follow suit. Miniaturized micro endoscopes were placed on the mice to monitor their brain activities during social situations. The results helped to show a dominance of hierarchy as well as the animals’ decision-making process.
A system called wireless electrophysiology was used to simultaneously record the brain activity of the bats’ frontal cortices. It could then detect the brain oscillations and neural signals. The researchers were able to collect this data and make predictions as to whether the bats would engage in the social interactions or not. They were able to determine the interbrain correlations between the bats.
It is extremely interesting to watch people interact and now, with the help of some of these animals, we are learning different ways to study how the brain reacts to different situations. This has the potential to be a huge asset in the future in helping people who struggle in understanding social cues and providing aid for them very early on.
