TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Cláudio Guerra: Why the octopus brain is so extraordinary

Unscramble the Blue Letters

What could octopuses possibly have in common with us? After all, they don't have lguns, snipes, or even a plural noun we can all agree on. But what they do have is the ability to solve puzzles, learn through observation, and even use tools, just like some other animals we know. And what makes octopus intelligence so amazing is that it comes from a biogoalcil structure completely different from ours. The 200 or so species of octopuses are mollusks belonging to the order cephalopoda, Greek for head-feet. Those hdaes contain impressively large brains, with a brain to body ratio similar to that of other ieligltennt animals, and a complex nervous system with about as many neurons as that of a dog. But instead of being ceiztelarnd in the brain, these 500 million neurons are spread out in a network of interconnected ganglia organized into three basic suttcuerrs. The crntael brain only contains about 10% of the nnroeus, while the two huge optic lobes contain about 30%. The other 60% are in the tentacles, which for humans would be like our arms having minds of their own. This is where things get even more interesting. Vertebrates like us have a rigid skeleton to support our bodies, with joints that allow us to move. But not all types of movement are allowed. You can't bend your knee backwards, or bend your forearm in the mdidle, for example. Cephalopods, on the other hand, have no bones at all, anwilolg them to bend their limbs at any point and in any direction. So shaping their tentacles into any one of the virtually ltlisimes nebmur of possible angrneaemtrs is unlike anything we are used to. Consider a simple task, like grabbing and eanitg an apple. The human brain contains a niarucoeolgl map of our body. When you see the aplpe, your brain's motor center avtaiects the appropriate muscles, allowing you to reach out with your arm, grab it with your hand, bend your elbow joint, and bnrig it to your mouth. For an octopus, the process is quite different. Rather than a body map, the cephalopod brain has a behavior library. So when an octoups sees food, its bairn doesn't atcative a specific body part, but rather a behavioral rnopssee to grab. As the signal travels through the nerwtok, the arm neurons pick up the message and jump into action to command the movement. As soon as the arm touches the food, a msucle atcoaivitn wave travels all the way through the arm to its base, while the arm sends back another wave from the base to the tip. The signals meet halfway between the food and the base of the arm, ltneitg it know to bend at that spot. What all this means is that each of an octopus's eight arms can etneslilasy think for itself. This gives it amazing flexibility and civttariey when facing a new situation or problem, whether its opening a bottle to reach food, eciapsng through a maze, moving around in a new environment, changing the ttxuere and the color of its skin to blend into the senrcey, or even mimicking other creatures to scare away enmeeis. Cephalopods may have evolved complex brains long before our vabeettrre rvlaitees. And octopus intelligence isn't just useful for octopuses. Their radically different nervous system and autonomously thinking appendages have inspired new research in developing flexible rtboos made of soft materials. And studying how intelligence can arise along such a divergent evolutionary path can help us understand more about intelligence and consciousness in general. Who knows what other forms of intelligent life are possible, or how they process the world around them.

Open Cloze

What could octopuses possibly have in common with us? After all, they don't have _____, ______, or even a plural noun we can all agree on. But what they do have is the ability to solve puzzles, learn through observation, and even use tools, just like some other animals we know. And what makes octopus intelligence so amazing is that it comes from a __________ structure completely different from ours. The 200 or so species of octopuses are mollusks belonging to the order cephalopoda, Greek for head-feet. Those _____ contain impressively large brains, with a brain to body ratio similar to that of other ___________ animals, and a complex nervous system with about as many neurons as that of a dog. But instead of being ___________ in the brain, these 500 million neurons are spread out in a network of interconnected ganglia organized into three basic __________. The _______ brain only contains about 10% of the _______, while the two huge optic lobes contain about 30%. The other 60% are in the tentacles, which for humans would be like our arms having minds of their own. This is where things get even more interesting. Vertebrates like us have a rigid skeleton to support our bodies, with joints that allow us to move. But not all types of movement are allowed. You can't bend your knee backwards, or bend your forearm in the ______, for example. Cephalopods, on the other hand, have no bones at all, ________ them to bend their limbs at any point and in any direction. So shaping their tentacles into any one of the virtually _________ ______ of possible ____________ is unlike anything we are used to. Consider a simple task, like grabbing and ______ an apple. The human brain contains a ____________ map of our body. When you see the _____, your brain's motor center _________ the appropriate muscles, allowing you to reach out with your arm, grab it with your hand, bend your elbow joint, and _____ it to your mouth. For an octopus, the process is quite different. Rather than a body map, the cephalopod brain has a behavior library. So when an _______ sees food, its _____ doesn't ________ a specific body part, but rather a behavioral ________ to grab. As the signal travels through the _______, the arm neurons pick up the message and jump into action to command the movement. As soon as the arm touches the food, a ______ __________ wave travels all the way through the arm to its base, while the arm sends back another wave from the base to the tip. The signals meet halfway between the food and the base of the arm, _______ it know to bend at that spot. What all this means is that each of an octopus's eight arms can ___________ think for itself. This gives it amazing flexibility and __________ when facing a new situation or problem, whether its opening a bottle to reach food, ________ through a maze, moving around in a new environment, changing the _______ and the color of its skin to blend into the _______, or even mimicking other creatures to scare away _______. Cephalopods may have evolved complex brains long before our __________ _________. And octopus intelligence isn't just useful for octopuses. Their radically different nervous system and autonomously thinking appendages have inspired new research in developing flexible ______ made of soft materials. And studying how intelligence can arise along such a divergent evolutionary path can help us understand more about intelligence and consciousness in general. Who knows what other forms of intelligent life are possible, or how they process the world around them.

Solution

essentially
robots
eating
creativity
neurons
spines
enemies
intelligent
activate
muscle
number
apple
allowing
brain
relatives
middle
arrangements
scenery
bring
neurological
structures
activation
network
escaping
response
heads
letting
lungs
centralized
vertebrate
central
octopus
limitless
activates
texture
biological

Original Text

What could octopuses possibly have in common with us? After all, they don't have lungs, spines, or even a plural noun we can all agree on. But what they do have is the ability to solve puzzles, learn through observation, and even use tools, just like some other animals we know. And what makes octopus intelligence so amazing is that it comes from a biological structure completely different from ours. The 200 or so species of octopuses are mollusks belonging to the order cephalopoda, Greek for head-feet. Those heads contain impressively large brains, with a brain to body ratio similar to that of other intelligent animals, and a complex nervous system with about as many neurons as that of a dog. But instead of being centralized in the brain, these 500 million neurons are spread out in a network of interconnected ganglia organized into three basic structures. The central brain only contains about 10% of the neurons, while the two huge optic lobes contain about 30%. The other 60% are in the tentacles, which for humans would be like our arms having minds of their own. This is where things get even more interesting. Vertebrates like us have a rigid skeleton to support our bodies, with joints that allow us to move. But not all types of movement are allowed. You can't bend your knee backwards, or bend your forearm in the middle, for example. Cephalopods, on the other hand, have no bones at all, allowing them to bend their limbs at any point and in any direction. So shaping their tentacles into any one of the virtually limitless number of possible arrangements is unlike anything we are used to. Consider a simple task, like grabbing and eating an apple. The human brain contains a neurological map of our body. When you see the apple, your brain's motor center activates the appropriate muscles, allowing you to reach out with your arm, grab it with your hand, bend your elbow joint, and bring it to your mouth. For an octopus, the process is quite different. Rather than a body map, the cephalopod brain has a behavior library. So when an octopus sees food, its brain doesn't activate a specific body part, but rather a behavioral response to grab. As the signal travels through the network, the arm neurons pick up the message and jump into action to command the movement. As soon as the arm touches the food, a muscle activation wave travels all the way through the arm to its base, while the arm sends back another wave from the base to the tip. The signals meet halfway between the food and the base of the arm, letting it know to bend at that spot. What all this means is that each of an octopus's eight arms can essentially think for itself. This gives it amazing flexibility and creativity when facing a new situation or problem, whether its opening a bottle to reach food, escaping through a maze, moving around in a new environment, changing the texture and the color of its skin to blend into the scenery, or even mimicking other creatures to scare away enemies. Cephalopods may have evolved complex brains long before our vertebrate relatives. And octopus intelligence isn't just useful for octopuses. Their radically different nervous system and autonomously thinking appendages have inspired new research in developing flexible robots made of soft materials. And studying how intelligence can arise along such a divergent evolutionary path can help us understand more about intelligence and consciousness in general. Who knows what other forms of intelligent life are possible, or how they process the world around them.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
octopus intelligence	2
nervous system	2

Important Words

ability
action
activate
activates
activation
agree
allowed
allowing
amazing
animals
appendages
apple
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arm
arms
arrangements
autonomously
base
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cephalopod
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changing
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command
common
completely
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consciousness
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developing
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dog
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elbow
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environment
escaping
essentially
evolutionary
evolved
facing
flexibility
flexible
food
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general
grab
grabbing
greek
halfway
hand
heads
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humans
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jump
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learn
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library
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limbs
limitless
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map
materials
maze
means
meet
message
middle
million
mimicking
minds
mollusks
motor
mouth
move
movement
moving
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muscles
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network
neurological
neurons
noun
number
observation
octopus
octopuses
opening
optic
order
organized
part
path
pick
plural
point
possibly
problem
process
puzzles
radically
ratio
reach
relatives
research
response
rigid
robots
scare
scenery
sees
sends
shaping
signal
signals
similar
simple
situation
skeleton
skin
soft
solve
species
specific
spines
spot
spread
structure
structures
studying
support
system
task
tentacles
texture
thinking
tip
tools
touches
travels
types
understand
vertebrate
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virtually
wave
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