* . *
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact
Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Earth-News
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Offset Is Ready To Finalize Divorce With Cardi B for a Major Reason – Yahoo

    Offset Poised to Finalize Divorce from Cardi B for a Major Reason

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Driving Entertainment and Education – Livability.com

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Transforming Entertainment and Education

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Charlie Hunnam Reflects on Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story – Yahoo

    Charlie Hunnam Reveals the Dark Challenges of Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    Why Taylor Swift Name-Dropped Elizabeth Taylor in Her New Album – Yahoo

    Here’s Why Taylor Swift Dropped Elizabeth Taylor’s Name in Her New Album

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

    ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    Is Light-Speed Analog Computing the Future of Technology? – BIOENGINEER.ORG

    Could Light-Speed Analog Computing Transform the Future of Technology?

    ARM Institute opens technology project call to speed submarine manufacturing – The Robot Report

    ARM Institute Unveils Cutting-Edge Technology Project to Revolutionize Submarine Manufacturing

    Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now. – The New York Times

    Ditch the Cowbells: Discover the High-Tech Collars Transforming Cattle Care

    What the Recent Price Surge Means for Figure Technology Solutions After SEC Settlement – Yahoo Finance

    What the Recent Price Surge Reveals About Figure Technology Solutions Following SEC Settlement

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Business
  • Entertainment
    Offset Is Ready To Finalize Divorce With Cardi B for a Major Reason – Yahoo

    Offset Poised to Finalize Divorce from Cardi B for a Major Reason

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Driving Entertainment and Education – Livability.com

    Beyond the Stage: 8 Performing Arts Centers Transforming Entertainment and Education

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Row K Entertainment Emerges as Major New Hollywood Buyer With Splashy TIFF Shopping Spree – TheWrap

    Charlie Hunnam Reflects on Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story – Yahoo

    Charlie Hunnam Reveals the Dark Challenges of Playing a Serial Killer in Monster: The Ed Gein Story

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    “Reba” cast, then and now: See the stars 24 years later (and who’s reunited for another show) – Yahoo

    Why Taylor Swift Name-Dropped Elizabeth Taylor in Her New Album – Yahoo

    Here’s Why Taylor Swift Dropped Elizabeth Taylor’s Name in Her New Album

  • General
  • Health
  • News

    Cracking the Code: Why China’s Economic Challenges Aren’t Shaking Markets, Unlike America’s” – Bloomberg

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Trump’s Narrow Window to Spread the Truth About Harris

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    Israel-Gaza war live updates: Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Iran, group says

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    PAP Boss to Niger Delta Youths, Stay Away from the Protest

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Court Restricts Protests In Lagos To Freedom, Peace Park

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Fans React to Jazz Jennings’ Inspiring Weight Loss Journey

    Trending Tags

    • Trump Inauguration
    • United Stated
    • White House
    • Market Stories
    • Election Results
  • Science
  • Sports
  • Technology
    ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

    ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    US and investors gambling on unproven nuclear technology, warn experts – Financial Times

    Is Light-Speed Analog Computing the Future of Technology? – BIOENGINEER.ORG

    Could Light-Speed Analog Computing Transform the Future of Technology?

    ARM Institute opens technology project call to speed submarine manufacturing – The Robot Report

    ARM Institute Unveils Cutting-Edge Technology Project to Revolutionize Submarine Manufacturing

    Forget Cowbells. Cows Wear High-Tech Collars Now. – The New York Times

    Ditch the Cowbells: Discover the High-Tech Collars Transforming Cattle Care

    What the Recent Price Surge Means for Figure Technology Solutions After SEC Settlement – Yahoo Finance

    What the Recent Price Surge Reveals About Figure Technology Solutions Following SEC Settlement

    Trending Tags

    • Nintendo Switch
    • CES 2017
    • Playstation 4 Pro
    • Mark Zuckerberg
No Result
View All Result
Earth-News
No Result
View All Result
Home Science

Rats can use imagination to mentally recreate places they’ve visited

November 3, 2023
in Science
Rats can use imagination to mentally recreate places they’ve visited
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

With virtual reality, and the promise of a sugary reward, rats can be made to use their imagination

SolStock/iStockphoto/Getty Images

Just like someone may look back on a treasured holiday, wishing they were still there, rats can also imagine being in places they’ve visited before.

A region of the brain called the hippocampus, which plays a big role in memory, is very consistent across mammals. This led scientists to suspect that non-human animals are similarly capable of imagining places they have been to before, but it is difficult to prove that such a brain process occurs. “You can’t talk to animals and ask them to imagine something,” says Albert Lee at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

He and his colleagues hoped that advances in technology could overcome this by creating an interface between the animals’ brains and a machine, allowing them to communicate.

To put the idea to the test, the researchers devised a 360-degree virtual reality (VR) arena. They had three rats walk on a treadmill within this, but the VR made it look to the animal like it was moving through a space resembling a dark tunnel.

The rats were trained to find certain shapes within the VR for a reward of sugary water. While they looked for these shapes, electrical signals were recorded from their hippocampus. The researchers used this data to produce a brain-machine interface that reverse engineered the signals produced by the rats into images that were then displayed in the VR arena.

They also wondered if a rat imagining a certain location within the VR, which involves the activation of certain hippocampal cells, would similarly cause it to appear in the arena.

In a second experiment, the researchers tested this idea by getting the rats to do two tasks. These both involved the rats being placed on a treadmill, but, unlike before, moving didn’t affect what they saw.

In the first task, the rats had to imagine navigating to a particular shape they had already seen, for instance a circle, to receive sugary water. By envisaging locations in the VR that they had been through, the rats activated certain hippocampal cells, which was translated by the brain-machine interface into images in the VR.

The rats quickly learned that moving on the treadmill didn’t get them closer to the shape, but imagining how they would reach it led to what they saw in the VR changing, bringing them closer to the circle, says Lee. “They grasp it really fast,” says team member Chongxi Lai at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Maryland.

In the second task, the rats learned to move a shape in the VR to a specific location using their imagination. Unlike in the first task, the world around them didn’t move, which caused the animals to move less themselves. “We wanted them to sit still and imagine, just like humans,” says Lai.

The rats did both tasks successfully, the researchers write in their paper. “This is the first time it’s been shown that animals can control this internal model of the world in their hippocampus,” says Lee. “It’s a critical step that underlies imagination.” Lee expects that the similarity of the hippocampus across mammals means they are all capable of such thoughts.

But how similar a rat’s imagination is to a person’s remains an open question, says Lee, who adds that the researchers plan to examine the extensiveness of rats’ imagination in future studies.

“The study shows that rats can imagine doing things in a way very similar to us, without actually doing them,” says Frank Sengpiel at Cardiff University, UK. “The rats were able to wilfully control the activity of the nerve cells in their hippocampus, very much like what we do when we imagine things. To my mind, this shows not only that rats are capable of mental time travel, but also that they are conscious.”

Topics:

>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : New Scientist – https://www.newscientist.com/article/2400887-rats-can-use-imagination-to-mentally-recreate-places-theyve-visited/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home

Tags: imaginationMentallyscience
Previous Post

Chimpanzees use high ground to scope out rival groups

Next Post

NASA Goddard’s ‘Spiky’ Antenna Chamber: Signaling Success for 50 Years

GenoPalate Advances Its Science Again With Diet Snapshot – Yahoo Finance

GenoPalate Advances Its Science Again With Diet Snapshot – Yahoo Finance

October 8, 2025
Horses making the rounds at Florida hospitals – The Union Democrat

Horses Bringing Joy and Healing to Florida Hospitals

October 8, 2025
ENERCON and Biome collaborate for wind turbine noise reduction technology – Yahoo Finance

ENERCON and Biome Join Forces to Revolutionize Wind Turbine Noise Reduction

October 8, 2025
Cancun’s Sports Bar & Grill opens second location in North Tallahassee – Tallahassee Democrat

Cancun’s Sports Bar & Grill Expands with Exciting New Location in North Tallahassee

October 8, 2025
Welcome Home: World Aquatics Breaks Ground on Future Headquarters in Budapest – World Aquatics

Welcome Home: World Aquatics Launches Exciting New Headquarters in Budapest

October 8, 2025
New Zealand Surprises With Larger Rate Cut as Economic Concerns Mount – Bloomberg.com

New Zealand Surprises Markets with Larger-Than-Expected Rate Cut Amid Rising Economic Concerns

October 8, 2025
Offset Is Ready To Finalize Divorce With Cardi B for a Major Reason – Yahoo

Offset Poised to Finalize Divorce from Cardi B for a Major Reason

October 8, 2025
Health Rounds: Genetics play a role in higher depression risk for women – Reuters

How Genetics Shape Depression Risk in Women: What Everyone Should Understand

October 8, 2025
October 7, 2025 – Federal government shutdown – CNN

October 7, 2025 – Federal government shutdown – CNN

October 8, 2025
Blackwater photos suggest new symbiosis between fish and anemones – EurekAlert!

Breathtaking Blackwater Photos Unveil an Unexpected Alliance Between Fish and Anemones

October 8, 2025

Categories

Archives

October 2025
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  
« Sep    
Earth-News.info

The Earth News is an independent English-language daily published Website from all around the World News

Browse by Category

  • Business (20,132)
  • Ecology (857)
  • Economy (878)
  • Entertainment (21,751)
  • General (17,483)
  • Health (9,920)
  • Lifestyle (891)
  • News (22,149)
  • People (879)
  • Politics (889)
  • Science (16,089)
  • Sports (21,379)
  • Technology (15,859)
  • World (861)

Recent News

GenoPalate Advances Its Science Again With Diet Snapshot – Yahoo Finance

GenoPalate Advances Its Science Again With Diet Snapshot – Yahoo Finance

October 8, 2025
Horses making the rounds at Florida hospitals – The Union Democrat

Horses Bringing Joy and Healing to Florida Hospitals

October 8, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Privacy & Policy
  • Contact

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

No Result
View All Result

© 2023 earth-news.info

Go to mobile version