14 DAY TRIAL // In a surprising study, investigators at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) discovered that when it comes to making decisions that involve combining different sensory cues, rats are just as efficient as humans are. Previously, scientists thought this was not possible.
What this research suggests is that the rat brain processes multi-sensory information just as efficiently as the human brain does, at least statistically. The reason why this investigation was conducted is because this mental processing mechanism goes awry in autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Researchers are therefore hoping that studying the way rats' brains work may suggest new avenues of research for developing novel therapies against ASD. Interestingly, this study revealed that rats are capable of finding statistically-optimal ways of interpreting visual and auditory cues, for example.
The research was essentially a comparison seeking to determine how the two species make perceptual decisions. CSHL scientists found similar levels of performances and decision relevance in both.
Details of the new investigation were published in the March 14 issue of the esteemed Journal of Neuroscience. The work was led by neuroscientist and CSHL assistant professor Anne Churchland, PhD.
She explains that the new results point toward the existence of an evolutionary adaptation that appeared before the two species diverged. The neural circuits conserving this ability may therefore exist in other species as well, and could be discovered through specialized studies.
“Statistically optimal combination of multiple sensory stimuli has been well documented in humans, but many have been skeptical about this behavior occurring in other species. Our work is the first demonstration of its occurrence in rodents,” Churchland explains.
“By observing this behavior in rodents, we have a chance to explore its neural basis – something that is not feasible to do in people,” the team leader goes on to say. She adds that studying the rat brain in detail is possible, whereas doing the same with the human brain, not so much.
“We can use our rat model to ‘look under the hood’ to understand how the brain is combining multisensory information and be in a better position to develop treatments for these disorders in people,” the investigator explains.
Funds for this investigation were obtained through grants from the US National Institute of Health (NIH) and the John Merck Fund.