If you think some humans find it tough to make difficult decisions, wait till you hear about fruit flies. They tend to spend a lot of time choosing between strong and weak smell, but only if the difference is small.
As per researchers, this type of behavior is linked to a gene known as FoxP. In addition, fruit flies use up to 200 neurons to get around making this difficult decision. Clearly not the smartest insect in the world, yet flies still manage to cause humans to curse and go crazy all over the world.
What researchers have found with this test proves that insects are intelligent creatures. They actually think before they act, even if some decisions take longer than normal. We used to think flies just go with the environment or with their natural instinct, but clearly this is not case.
"Freedom of action from automatic impulses is considered a hallmark of cognition or intelligence," says Professor Gero Miessenböck, from Oxford University's Centre for Neural Circuits and Behavior. "What our findings show is that fruit flies have a surprising mental capacity that has previously been unrecognized."
You may not have known this, but FoxP is found in humans and other creatures. Similar to the fruit fly, FoxP is the gene that allows us to make decisions. Lucky for humans, we can make difficult decisions faster, unless when it comes down to a female choosing what to wear tomorrow night.
"This is the clearest evidence yet of a cognitive process running in a very simple brain," said Prof Gero Miesenböck, whose team did the work at the University of Oxford's Centre for Circuits and Behavior. "People tended to think of insects as tiny robots that just respond reflexively to signals from the environment. Now we know that's not true."
This study took the Oxford University team five years to complete. It is not surprising it took so long, considering the data that was gathered. If it weren't for this study, we would have no idea that flies just don't pitch on our food out of instinct, but it was a choice. Now you have a solid reason to be angry at flies from this moment forward.
