Sound is not just about positioning

Probably not many people think what we will be if we become a bat. But for such people, it is the breakthrough enlightenment step to understand aspects of the human brain as well as the nervous system.

Cynthia Moss - member of the University of Maryland, College Park and Md. - is one of the few researchers who has spent time trying to understand the secrets of the bat's head.

Her new research shows that there is much more we need to study bat species than sitting guessing how they handle sound to identify the environment. Partially supported by the National Science Foundation, her research paper was published online on June 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Moss said: 'For centuries, we have come to realize that the sound of bats emitting gives them information about the location of objects. We now know that every time a bat makes a sound, there will be changes in its brain activity that are important for the ability to analyze the environment, control sensory movement. , spatial memory as well as orientation '.

Her research may help neuroscientists understand the mechanism of human brain activity in order to benefit human health. But to achieve that, more additional research will be needed.

A new study has discovered data showing that high-pitched bat species can create changes in brain activity that play an important role in helping them record images and analyze the environment. , turn your head and ears or remember.Research based on studies that took place over the past 40 years on how bats deal with sounds can finally bring hope to the blind.(Photo: National Park Service)

Moss and his colleague Nachum Ulanovsky of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel have compiled more than 100 studies and determined that short sounds emanating from the bat's mouth or nose as well as the echoes of the sounds The bar plays a vital role in the ability to control movement as well as many meanings related to other bat behavior.

In short, echoes from the sound made the bats turn their heads and ears while giving the brain a depiction of the scene. The echoes also provide information for the bat's memory of the surrounding environment so it can safely fly from one place to another.

Moss said: 'Examining the system helps us to emphasize new research results that show that the sound that bats make has more roles than echoes. We learned that every time a bat makes a sound, its brain activity changes and plays an essential role in determining complex behaviors . '

For example, when a bat pursues prey - perhaps a butterfly or some insect, it calculates the location of a three-dimensional space in an environment - possibly a tree, a wall. or a lamppost - from information that echoes the high pitched cries. These sounds are produced at a rate of 2 to 150 voices in 1 second.

Researchers have found that bats can completely use echoes to remember the details of the environment in which they operate, thereby playing a role in memorizing the extremely sensitive space.

The sound emitted tells bats the vertical and horizontal position of the prey based on the differences in time of occurrence, intensity and variety of echoes received. The bat estimates the prey area from the time lag from the time the sound is released until the echo is heard. Bats also use its tumbler system to assess the size of the target. In the end, when he hit the target, he would swoop down to grab the prey.

Researchers can establish a relationship between the way humans and bats handle information to perform functions. Both are mammals that carry some basic brain structure characteristics, leading to the common inevitable.

According to Moss, bats use behavioral sound behavior to signal the environment, while some visually impaired people make a click of their tongue to produce echoing sounds of echoes.

Both humans and bats share the same so-called 'motor behavior' that helps mold their sense of world . The bat turns, moves the ears as well as changes the flight path in response to the echo information brought about the environment. We humans also move our eyes or turn our heads to enhance perception through visual and hearing cues.

Moss said: 'All of these motor behaviors affect the perception capacity as well as the description of the environment of animals. But the interesting thing for us is that the movement of sound activities contributed to the perception capacity of the environment, memory as well as the ability to plan space, not only taking into account the ability to handle sound. bar'.

'Maybe some of the information we get from bats will be useful in helping us understand how the brain works. But that future is still very far away. '