Reference from
William Skaggs | April 24, 2014
The size of the hippocampus is the most surprising difference between dolphins and whales, and other mammals. The size, in general, is smaller if the size of brain is bigger. However, nevertheless the brains of whales and dolphins are relatively big, the hippocampus is hardly seen. Led by Pual Manger, a group of researcher examined the relation between the size of the hippocampus and the brains in a great many kinds of mammal species. The experiment turned out that the size of most species’ hippocampus out of 375 species is proportional to the size of brain expect cetaceans. They meet only 8 percent to 20 percent of what expected from the general date.
Log-log plot of hippocampal volume versus total brain volume, for 375 species of mammals from a wide variety of groups. Used with permission from Patzke et al, 2013.
On of areas to show adult neurogenesis, a creation of new neurons, is the hippocampus, but the absence was seen in the ones from cetaceans. Manger has doubted the intelligence of them for a long time, and this experiment showed that their brains are not as fine as the other mammals’; yet, in fact, they do not need to use the adult neurogenesis, which controls the spatial memory.
In human, if they lose their hippocampus, which is kwnon as hippocampal amnesia, it causes the inability to create of new memories and the absence of recent memories, remaining the memories from childhood or the distant past, procedural learning, the competence to lean new jobs, working memory, and the competence to remember in mind shortly. The questions is how about the absence of the hippocampus of dolphins and whales. Although the clear date has not detected, there have been studies of memory in dolphins. Dolphins are good at using a gesture-language, which is divided into working memory. Also they are known to their ability to recognize the vocal calls of other fellows even they have not seen for decades. If this is classified as the ability to create new memories, it is unexpected in the absence of hippocampus, though we cannot make a clear conclusion of it.
Hippocampus also perform the cognitive map, which takes charge of creation of mental maps; this allows the brains to make a map of an environment and location of stuffs, and appearances. Whales and dolphins live at the surface of the ocean, so that it can be said that they do not have a concept of a place, but it is important to know if they are capable of creating mental maps. Although the striking information has not been gained, there is the only relevant result of study led by Kelly Jaakkola and her fellows. The experiment resulted in that dolphins are limited to memorize mentally the locations of hidden objects. However, it is also dangerous to announce that dolphins and whales are not capable of creating episodic memory and spatial memory. Are they not as smart as we think? We need more information to put a strong conclusion on whether dolphins and whales can make mental maps or not.
Log-log plot of hippocampal volume versus total brain volume, for 375 species of mammals from a wide variety of groups. Used with permission from Patzke et al, 2013.
On of areas to show adult neurogenesis, a creation of new neurons, is the hippocampus, but the absence was seen in the ones from cetaceans. Manger has doubted the intelligence of them for a long time, and this experiment showed that their brains are not as fine as the other mammals’; yet, in fact, they do not need to use the adult neurogenesis, which controls the spatial memory.
In human, if they lose their hippocampus, which is kwnon as hippocampal amnesia, it causes the inability to create of new memories and the absence of recent memories, remaining the memories from childhood or the distant past, procedural learning, the competence to lean new jobs, working memory, and the competence to remember in mind shortly. The questions is how about the absence of the hippocampus of dolphins and whales. Although the clear date has not detected, there have been studies of memory in dolphins. Dolphins are good at using a gesture-language, which is divided into working memory. Also they are known to their ability to recognize the vocal calls of other fellows even they have not seen for decades. If this is classified as the ability to create new memories, it is unexpected in the absence of hippocampus, though we cannot make a clear conclusion of it.
Hippocampus also perform the cognitive map, which takes charge of creation of mental maps; this allows the brains to make a map of an environment and location of stuffs, and appearances. Whales and dolphins live at the surface of the ocean, so that it can be said that they do not have a concept of a place, but it is important to know if they are capable of creating mental maps. Although the striking information has not been gained, there is the only relevant result of study led by Kelly Jaakkola and her fellows. The experiment resulted in that dolphins are limited to memorize mentally the locations of hidden objects. However, it is also dangerous to announce that dolphins and whales are not capable of creating episodic memory and spatial memory. Are they not as smart as we think? We need more information to put a strong conclusion on whether dolphins and whales can make mental maps or not.
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