Our pets have the ability to measure time

All those who have a pet know it: our pets have some sense of time. Just observe the behavior of the dogs just before lunch time or when the hour of their daily walk is approaching. Thus, many examples can make us think that our pets have some sort of mental clock.

In this respect, it has been shown, according to recent research, that time was actually represented by animals. in their brain. In fact, a particular brain structure is responsible for that particular function.

Animals have a sophisticated sense of time

To study this phenomenon, Daniel Dombeck, accompanied by a team of researchers from Northwestern University in the United States, conducted an experiment. Specifically, we worked with a group of mice to perform a time measurement task, while their brain activation was measured.

In a virtual reality environment, mice had to turn a wheel for six seconds to open a window. door in this way, they could go on their way to receive food as a reward. After that, it was observed that the mice had learned the operation, despite the change of task.

That is, despite the removal of the door in question, the mice persisted in turning the steering wheel for six seconds, then placing themselves in the place where the door was, waiting that it opens to continue; this, despite the fact that visually and the door did not exist.

With this in mind, researchers suggest that animals have a perception of time; In short, the only way to solve the task satisfactorily was to use the internal sense of time in the brain. In addition, it was observed that the entorhinal cortex of mice, a brain structure badociated with memory, was activated during the execution of the task, as an integral part of the neural mechanism of the sense of time.

The entorhinal cortex controlled the direction of time. of our domestic animals

In light of the findings, the researchers suggest that animals have a sense of time similar to that of humans; Moreover, this function is controlled by the entorhinal cortex. After performing the experiment, it has been shown that mice are able to perform a task impossible to achieve in the absence of sense of time.

So, in addition to explain how pets can anticipate what will happen. occur depending on the time, these findings could have some implications in the field of Alzheimer's disease study. As the researchers explain, people with Alzheimer's disease suffer from memory laps in which they forget that certain things have happened and how that has been possible. entorrinal in this process. Therefore, further research is suggested to determine to what extent these results correspond to the human being, as well as to develop mechanisms to deal with these problems with greater efficiency.

Reference: Evidence of a medial entorhinal subcircuit. cortex representing the time elapsed during immobility, (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-018-0252-8