Do insects feel pain like humans?

For a long time, we've seen insects as "mindless" creatures, living on instinct with robot-like responses to the world around them.

However, the closer the scientists looked, the more they noticed the surprisingly complex behaviors of insects, from how bees communicate through dance, to how ants cooperate with each other. job. Now we have solid evidence that these tiny creatures can also feel pain.

Insects also feel pain just like humans.

Accordingly, the literature records that insects have a reaction and tendency to avoid exposure to things that can harm their body. This is derived from the scientific concept of Nociception (temporarily called "painful arousal") when they are the perception of pain in insects.

"We wondered if the insect brain contains neural mechanisms that enable them to experience pain, rather than just basic perception," said Prof. Matilda Gibbons, a neurobiologist from Queen Mary University of London. "For humans, a pain signal can even be modulated by neural signals from the brain."

Taking the example of soldiers on the battlefield, Prof. Gibbons says they sometimes have to take opiates or other powerful painkillers to temporarily forget about physical pain, simply because these substances can block sensory signals from the brain.

To learn more, Mr. Gibbons and colleagues reviewed the scientific literature and found some evidence that this mechanism exists in insects.

Specifically, some species have produced proteins when their bodies are in pain, which have similar effects to humans in regulating how the brain perceives.

Behavioral evidence also suggests that insects have very unique ways of thinking, as a response, when they are repeatedly exposed to agents that damage both their peripheral and central nervous systems.

In light of these findings, the team concluded that insects have central nervous system control based on neuroscientific evidence from behavioral, molecular and anatomical perspectives. "Such control of the body suggests that the insect does experience pain," the team wrote in the journal Biological Sciences.

However, because insects are a large and diverse group, the complexity of these painful sensations also varies widely.