Like people, cuttlefish can have false memories

2024-08-01 17:02:35

INTRODUCTION – The memory function of these cephalopods is close to ours, and it reconstructs the past from incomplete information.

Have you ever been convinced that you met someone at an event, even though the person told you (and showed you) that they weren’t there? Then you realize that this memory is a figment of your imagination, in other words a false memory. A very unpleasant feeling, which makes us doubt ourselves often. This difference, well known in neurology, is actually shared by humans with a very different animal: the cuttlefish! This is the conclusion of a study carried out by a group of scientists from the Ethos laboratory (animal and human nature) at the University of Caen-Normandy and published in the magazine iScientific from the Cell side.

« We showed a few years ago that, like humans, cuttlefish have a type of episodic memory.explains Christelle Jozet-Alves, the first author of the declaration. In other words, they will relive their memories from the events…

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