Clever octopus tentacles stuffed with neurons

By Cory Doctorow at 2:10 am Friday, Nov 19

Here's a sketch of some of the current research into the distributed intelligence of octopuses, which appears to be spread out among the neuron-dense tissues of the tentacles:

Octopuses have large nervous systems, centered around relatively large brains. But more than half of their 500 million neurons are found in the arms themselves, Godfrey-Smith said. This raises the question of whether the arms have something like minds of their own. Though the question is controversial, there is some observational evidence indicating that it could be so, he said. When an octopus is in an unfamiliar tank with food in the middle, some arms seem to crowd into the corner seeking safety while others seem to pull the animal toward the food, Godfrey-Smith explained, as if the creature is literally of two minds about the situation.

There may be other explanations for the observations. But whatever the answer, it seems likely that octopus intelligence is quite different from that of humans and, as researchers ponder the broader meaning of intelligence, may be as different as is likely to be encountered, short of finding it on other planets.

Thinking like an octopus

(Image: Tentacle, a Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike (2.0) image from brunkfordbraun's photostream)