Lower Animals In The Brain Summary

Somewhere deep in the conglomerate of useless knowledge in my brain, I knew that sponges do not have brains. I did not, however, take that knowledge and consider what other animals' nervous systems look like. Professor Martin looks at how higher functions of the brain play out in "lower" animals, or animals that are not normally considered to be overly intelligent. According to Professor Martin's research, the female praying mantis has a nervous system that is relatively similar to that of humans. There have a central nervous system that can be scientifically considered a brain, and it controls the parts of the body in ways that are similar to our own. I wish that I could include the chart that Professor Martin used in his presentation, but essentially for this similarity to occur, humans and praying mantises must have a common ancestor somewhere along the evolutionary line. One can only imagine what that human-bug hybrid might have looked like.

Since the nervous systems are so similar, I wonder to what degree the brains react in similar ways, specifically regarding reflexes. If a person slams their finger between the door and the doorjamb, the first reaction after removing the finger from its painful position is normally to move the finger to make sure it still works. It's an involuntary action. Similarly, …show more content…
I do not mean withdrawing limbs from pain. I mean having the cognitive function to recognize that a part of the body is being brought to their attention, and moving that part of the body is direct response to that recognition. Of course, if you talk about hand movement to an ant, nothing will happen. I imagine this study would look like causing a very small vibration to a limb of an insect with a similar nervous system. After the initial movement from the disruption, does the insect move again to assess the damage of the limb. Would they check on it again later to access the damage