Simple-minded nautilus reveals flash of memory

[gizmo664100]

can they swim forward

[danieldeibler]

Looks like someone doesn't know the difference between memory and operant conditioning. You know, if you touch a pill bug (roly poly) every time it unrolls, it'll eventually just stay closed for a while. That doesn't mean it remembers being touched. It just associated unrolling with getting touched, and every time it unrolled and got immediately touched again reinforced that association.

[CorrelatedComments]

It is a laughable notion that the nautilus reacted to the light after being fed  "delicious pulverized fish heads".

[DeadScarab]

nice,they thave memory....but what do they use it for? xD

nice question,what do we use it for? xD

[maddcatone]

haha... not a whole lot lol. That's why history repeats itself.

[heydtster]

But, how do they taste?

[Gearz86]

lol

[spiderweb20]

like million year old shell fish?

[maddcatone]

haha so funny yet so crude... haha

[shugo957]

woah i thought the nautilus was dead. i guess not...woah this one is awsome

[morrowindarcherman]

Mmmmm.... Delicious pulparized fish-heads....

[Evilfisher]

for some reason i think those nautilus squids are cute..

and i really think animals have feelings just the same way we do, only thing that makes us different is that humans can think different somehow..

but i personally think an ant have just as much feelings in its life as an average human... but that me.. im not an expert in this field

[maddcatone]

breaking a language barrier is one thing, but to break an interspecial communication barrier is a lot harder. Humans have manorisms that other humans understand because of our similar actions. we know when one's eyes open real wide it means they're surprised or aware because we do it ourselves. Animals have entirely different manorisms all together. We have very little common ground to judge from. A Dog's way of saying get away or I'll attack isn't understood by a human. We call it a growl.

[faroutfari]

Scientists can be so dim! The poor creature hasn't forgotten that the blue light means food, it's just that half an hour later it's given up reaching for food as the blue light is flashed without any food being given and it's fed up trying. After a gap, the nautilus is trying again hoping the blue light means what it did in the first place: food, not nothing as it did soon thereafter. That's exactly what a human or a dog might do, my cat isn't stupid she knows when I'm luring her without a prize

[johndest14]

It would be unlikely that these scientists tested nautili over and over again until they relearn the light no longer means food. The standard way of testing in psychology studies would be to test different animals at each point in time, without ever repeatedly testing them at all. Showing them the light over and over again might make them do what you say - who knows.

[maddcatone]

Correct. If it's not a study of a large population, as far as psychology goes it shouldn't be taken seriously as a scientific study. A physics experiment can be established on a small pop. such as 3 or so, because they are guided by LAWS, psychology is more wide field of data. The trends aren't so mathematically clean. You need a wide field of data to get around the outliers/exceptions to each rule.

[KOGR11]

@maddcatone well put thats why I sometimes say psychology is a pseudo science, almost every two decades someone from outside of that field comes along and proves their proceedings to beworng and they have to restructure everything they have formulated up to that point

[maddcatone]

so true.

[soepvorkje]

cool

[caoskin]

fish heads! haha

[GetMeThere1]

Yes...Fish heads ARE delicious...so, I can conclude from that alone that the nautilus is intelligent.

[RikimaruTheHulk]

Mmmmm.... Delicious pulparized fish-heads....

[winterstellar]

Yes, I thought so. I don't know much about fossils or paleonthology or anything, but I remember having seen somewhere fossils that were almost identical to those animals.

[CuteNautilus]

Nautilus are awesome, end of story, we don't need cruel and extensive testing to see their "memory skills". I love Nautilus, but what is the point in this?? =/

[CuteNautilus]

What's with the thumbs down on my comment? I'm only saying that the scientists are being arrogant for not realising that any creatures other than themselves have any form of memory. Why did they need to put it in a restraint and endlessly tease it with food? If this was done to one of those scientist's children there would be an outrage. And look at my username. Would I not appreciate the wonder and beauty of this animal with a name like mine? -_-

[cheezboobies]

hmm well if u think about it nautiluses havent needed brain power and if they did its been slowly chiped away at for a long time

ya see(dead but satill edible food+easy=not much brain power needed)eventully they dident use there brains and got dumb :P but there still smart in a way

[rsh2k8]

depends which evolution theory you believe

larmarck's would prove your theory

wereas darwins would not

darwins would say that those whichout lost of brain power were best suited to the enviroment so they survived to reproduce

[veltpak6]

the nautilus can live its entire life unassisted by humans, and has probably been existence longer...... but the genius human is barely aware that it has consciousness. Who's really the simple-minded one ?

[Dublinb0y]

them.

[dehbee]

people take granted of "lower" animals so much. a better way to understand complex creatures like ourselves is to first study how the primitive creature works first. studying the simplest of creatures shows us the basic steps of evolution itself and how other organisms all connect in the evolutionary chain and food chain. example: you could learn alot about the human just by studying the fetus of a human and comparing it to other animal fetuses.

[winterstellar]

They must be almost some of the oldest living species on earth? Don't they have fossils of those that are hundreds of millions of years old or something? It was obviously a good enough "design" then when they had reached that shape and size and stuff..since there doesn't seem to have been any need to evolve any further..

[ReisendeEuropa]

the fossils you are thinking of are those of ammonites, a cousin of the nautilus.. i have a small collection of them.. and yes, they have been around for a very long time with little evolution

[usmcg3]

those are still alive i thought they were extinct

[Jsd8675]

We are so arrogant and conceited as human beings to think we are so unique with any type of memory or cognition.

Give nature some credit.

[Blitzskiff]

I hope they didn't hurt the nautilus there awesome

[xenotoxette]

This is basically Pavlov's dog all over again.

[coolguymint]

i think they use their memory to remember when certain prey comes out so it cn get there before the prey goes away again

[Booshibonton]

They're cuteish :D

[particletheory]

um yeah. So the nautilus responds to the light for the first 6-12 hours.

Which, I think means it relearns, that blue flashing lights don't mean food.

Then the scientists think that the nautilus, "forgot" that blue lights flashing mean food.

Idiot scientists.

[emv47]

um, no. I think you think wrong. Article says its not forgetting, it has shortterm and longterm memory, which are different. It forgets after a day, not in between.

The reason it matters is because its like a fossil. Like having a caveman's brain to study. Evolution of brains and stuff. the scientists are probably not idiots.

I hate her voice.

[johnallanzero]

If someone put you in a harness that prevented movement, and relentlessly teased you with the possibility of food, but never gave it to you.. would you try to get it the next time?

I love her voice.

[daisytrench]

Where are my fish heads? You tricked me! Blue light doesn't mean fish heads after all.

[svarridark]

Ummm, Maybe the nautilus is just not as stupid or dense as your making it out to be. How bout that? Put your intellect to better use, like some green effort to save the planet or why Myanmar gov't. is still refusing to accept inter'l aid?

[ThompsonSeedless]

researchers must always assume the null hypothesis first

[graybou]

WHO CARES?

it's not like some seasnail that remembers stuff can cure cancer

[johnallanzero]

I would like more focus on important issues as well, but these scientists are people (like you) and they're doing what they enjoy/know how to do. You can't fault them for that.

[andy7666]

Mmmm.. Nautilus....

[dmnxCGi]

is it edible?

[Gannondalf]

rofl at her voice... and the way she says tentacles

[johndest14]

mmm! fish heads. very educational

[katub0]

what will happen if they knew what those creature's memory are for? crazy scientists! wasting their time & money for nonsense..leave those poor creatures alone

[subLusitania]

No kidding, Pavlov's Dog anyone?

[AMVrepository]

It was trying to shake hands/tentacles with that human.o_o

[babyxphantom]

Unless we plan on breeding giant Nautilus's for riding purposes, I don't see the reason for this?

[Avalikia]

Primitive creatures have very simple brains that are easier to study than complex brains like ours. Since we are so lacking in our ability to study a complex brain at the present time, it's only logical that we'd first try to understand a simple brain like the one possessed by the nautilus. Once we understand their brains understanding ours will be that much easier. Is that reason enough?

[kionji]

Very true. As we are able to understand the more simpler brains of the world, we can move on to more and more complexed ones-- Which eventually will lead us to our brains.

[g000we]

No information is useless. It's only useless if you don't so anything with it! :) Interesting. All you need is to plug a USB port into it, and I can store my files! :D

[Markisan]

Omastarrrrrr

[Jake1722]

thats what i thought

[beekun807]

interesting

[AnthraxMuffin]

Another grain of useless information that has been crammed into my brainz, thanks alot.

[blueboar1986]

lol I agree. These researches are waste of money.

[jeffsadowski]

An updated Pavlov experiment on nautilus's

[nerdelicious5]

those things are so weird looking...

[notveryawesome]

Delicious pulverized fish heads.

[DrakeMagnum]

new band name!

[catchyphrase92]

omastar/omanyte

^_^

[Ch8ese]

Nah, Kabutops was so much better! Dome fossil FTW!

[Keylimedelight]

delicious fish heads

[tyrannicide12]

Thanks,I could always count on you to skool me on something I never even considered.

[MickOfThor]

I HATE HER VOICE!!!

[Clockworkforest]

Yeah, she is just kinda reading with no emotions, but at least they have some talking, have you seen the silent vids? :/

[YoYoSmileALot]

You know... those things are actually pretty cute :) I ♥ them!

[throatkickerr]

Pavlovian nautili... I'm not seeing how this study is relevant.

[RarewareLover]

delicious pulverized fish heads

[Ductapecrazyglue]

Nautilus for president!!!!!

[lippskids]

thats cool i was told they have no memory basicly stupid

[wfd1234567]

pointless imo.

[ktc0754]

Why the 12hour delay? Hmmm...

[Tigerpoi51]

it takes that long for the neurons to form the connections. People are the same. If you learn some task .. During the training session the person might not get it down. But a few hours or days later they are able to perform rather well.

[dafttool]

It wouldn't surprise me at all if nautilus were more intelligent than previously thought considering that they're closely related to squid & octopus, which are fairly intelligent.

[Cheedillow]

I agree.

[JohnFWitt]

Totally. It also reminds me of Lovecraft's ideas (albeit fictional) about ancient, super-intelligent cephalopods.