Barn owls have a keen sense of hearing so they can locate and catch their dinner.
However, with so much noise from cars, teenager’s parties and emergency sirens, how do owls block out these distracting sounds and focus on finding prey? How do owls pick out the scurrying of a rat?
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University in the US have undertaken a study using barn owls to find out how the brain decides what to focus on.
The owls are set up with specialised earphones and a projector showing a series of dots and noises. Thin electrodes were inserted into the optic tectum to pick up the brain’s activity. The tectum is the part of the brain that is responsible for visual and auditory reflexes.
The next step of the study was to use two stimuli at various speeds and volume to determine which one the owl’s brain would choose to react to.
To give an anthropological example, there is a common joke that while driving (potentially getting lost) and looking at road names, that we need to turn down the volume of the radio so we can read the signs. Our brain does this automatically – focuses on the visual stimuli and reduces the noise level.
Researchers will determine if we possess the same brain cells that owls use to focus on one stimulus and how the owl’s brain decides which stimulus to focus on.
From this study, researchers believe that these results will contribute to the understanding and treatment of disorders such as schizophrenia, autism and attention deficit disorder.
