They escape at high speeds. It was discovered that simple worms can experience fear

They don’t have eyes, a spine, or even a brain, but they seem quite capable of experiencing the most basic animal emotions, such as fear. At least that’s what scientists concluded in a new study, writes Science Alert.

In recent research, a team from Nagoya City University in Japan and Northeastern University in the US focused on the Caenorhabditis elegans nematode, a simple roundworm. The results of the research show that these creatures can show a permanent negative reaction to a rapid electrical charge.

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The researchers observed how, after receiving a short, sharp attack, the species continued to “escape” at high speeds for minutes in the laboratory. A prolonged reaction that looks like a “worm run” indicates a brain state reminiscent of fear, the study authors note. Moreover, the duration and severity of the worm’s condition are likely regulated not by direct stimulation of the motor system but by a specialized neural circuit in the simple nervous system.

The team notes that these features have recently been recognized as important features of emotion; This suggests that the worms’ response to electric shock may reflect a form of emotion similar to fear.

The study’s authors say their findings contribute to the ongoing debate about whether invertebrates can truly experience basic emotions. Scientists have previously conducted experiments on crayfish, bumblebees and fruit flies to try to understand whether invertebrates can experience positive or negative cognitive states depending on stimuli. The real problem is that there is no way to measure emotions objectively. For this reason, some scholars believe that we should abandon the use of this term in this context altogether.

Scientists note that an animal’s response to a stimulus can be physiological, cognitive or behavioral, but to be considered emotional it must meet four basic criteria:

1. persists after the stimulus is removed;
2. increases or decreases depending on the degree of impact of the stimulus;
3. dominates other behavioral responses;
4. is consistent depending on the type of stimulus.

The authors of the study believe that the responses of the worms in the experiment met at least three of the four criteria, suggesting that the worms may still be emotional. However, in the current study, scientists used only electric shock, so the scientific community still has doubts.

Meanwhile, the study’s authors also repeated the shock experiments with worms that failed to produce neuropeptides equivalent to human hormones; worms stayed at high speed for longer. However, additional experiments will be needed to put an end to this debate.

Previously Focus He wrote that Russian scientists had awakened a 46,000-year-old worm and were preparing to “resurrect” humans.