We can visualize our external environment with the help of a pair of organs known as eyes. Our eyes recieves visual information from its field of vision. The light ray enters the eye through lens and then strikes on our retina where the inverted image formed. Then it is transmitted to the brain through diffrent neural networks. The visual information flows from eyes to brain in the manner of waves. In brain, the inverted image recieved from neural waves is corrected and furhter used to react. We can see colors, movements, things or many more, and can react accroding to the situation. But have you ever thought that how our babies feel when they see this world for first time or How they react, when they open their eyes for first time?
A research study unfolds this question. This study conducted on mice that is also a mammal like us, proved that the newborn of mice can already make a visual sense of the world around them before opening their eyes. But how does this happen before even they haven't experienced any sight?
This study suggests that in sense, mammals dream the world they are about to experience. All of this happened even before they are born. It describes that some waves of activity emanate from the neonatal retina in mice before even they open their eyes. This activity is replaced by a more mature network of neural transmissions after birth that transmits the visual information to the brain. In brain the information is further encoded and stored. A team led by Michael Crair, the William Ziegler who is the Professor of Neuroscience and professor of ophthalmology and visual science conducted this study.
"At opening eyes for first time, mammals are capable of pretty sophisticated behavior," said Crair who is the senior author of the study and also vice provost for research at Yale. This study turns out that "we are born capable of many of these types of behaviors, at least in rudimentary form." The yales team imaged the brain of mice soon after birth. They found that these retinal waves flow in a pattern. This pattern mimics the activity that would occur if the animal were moving forward through the environment. "This early dream-like activity makes evolutionary sense because it allows a mouse to anticipate what it will experience after opening its eyes, and be prepared to respond immediately to environmental threats," Crair noted. In their furthur study, they investigated the cells and other networks through which the retinnal waves propagates.
As we know that Mice are not like humans in their ability to quickly navigate their environment soon after birth. However, human babies are also able to immediately detect objects and react accordingly by testifying motion such as a moving hand across their field of vision. It suggests that their visual system was also primed even before birth or in simple words they had already make a visual sense even before opening their eyes.
Story Source:
Materials provided by Yale University. Original written by Bill Hathaway. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Journal Reference:
- Xinxin Ge, Kathy Zhang, Alexandra Gribizis, Ali S. Hamodi, Aude Martinez Sabino, Michael C. Crair. Retinal waves prime visual motion detection by simulating future optic flow. Science, 2021; 373 (6553): eabd0830 DOI: 10.1126/science.abd0830
