Despite a visual loss, ants overcome their handicap by developing a very rapid re-learning process. The study, conducted by a Toulouse laboratory specializing in insect behavior, could stimulate improvements in robotics or artificial intelligence.
Insects are not machines. The proof? If there is breakage, they repair themselves. This is the conclusion of a study carried out by a research team from Animal Cognition Research Center (1) that had just been Published in the Scientific Journal PNAs.
Toulouse scientists have shown that ants manage to quickly compensate for a loss of vision, going against model predictions. “We know very well the navigation behavior of ants and what happens in their brains when they are oriented in space. We wanted to test predictions from neural models that look at what was going on when we boiled an eye,” said Dr. Antoine Wytrach. CNRS Research Director at CRCA, a neuro-ether specialist.
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His team went to observe the behavior of Cataglyphis velox ants, also called ants of the desert, in Seville, Spain. “We had models that accurately demonstrated that the ant could walk up to 45 degrees with a hidden eye, alternate with accelerations and braking, and bring the food to the nest through the known path,” explains Antoine Wystrach. On this point the model was not wrong. With a hidden eye, the deficit was immediate. “As in our models, the ant was completely disoriented and unable to recognize its route and is quite logical.”
“Ants have learned a new way, like a new language”
The rest is more surprising to researchers. “After an hour we saw that the budding anthow is able to get food and bring it back to the nest. Our model remains broken, it is no further than the disorientation stage.
This adaptation, new evidence of the mechanisms of brain plasticity, is still enigmatic. “We know that brain plasticity exists, that neurons reconnect. But it allows you to restore functional behavior, it’s pretty magical,” the researcher says. “The ants that we observed, which were experienced ants that knew their journey very well, are engaged in behaviors of naive ants. They are ironed with learning as if they were leaving the nest. They learned a new route, even though this Street is physically the same.
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The rest will be trying to understand how ants managed to compensate for the loss of vision. “The goal is to get information so that our models can also rebuild, rebuild themselves. In terms of artificial intelligence and even robotics, it can change the situation. On a human level, it’s a small way, with a simpler brain to try to understand the pathways of brain plasticity “, concludes Antoine Wystrach, who for this” Terminant “begins, a new project with European ERC funding of 2 million euros for 5 years.