Snails Use Just Two Brain Cells To Make Decisions

 

Snails' brains shut down until they found food, researchers learned

 Scientists have discovered that snails solve complex decisions using just two brain cells, in a discovery that could help engineers develop energy efficient robots.

 By attaching electrodes to the brain circuitry of freshwater snails that were on the hunt for food, researchers learned the molluscs used only two neurons when they found a tasty lettuce.

 They also discovered that snails used controller and motivator neurons to feed back information to each other to decide whether or not to eat. The research could help engineers design the 'brains' of robots

 The first brain cell let it know it had discovered food and the second cell decided whether it was hungry, but if no food was in front of the snail this part of its brain circuitry shut down, saving energy.

 University of Sussex Professor George Kemenes, who led the research, said "What goes on in our brains when we make complex behavioural decisions and carry them out is poorly understood.