A project led by Marcelo Magnasco at The Rockefeller University and Diana Reiss at Hunter College of CUNY aims to explore the foundational mechanisms that influence the formation and boundaries of octopus intelligence. The team will do so by studying the distinct communication and problem-solving abilities these marine species evolved as adaptations. 

Of all the intelligent sea creatures, octopuses are the most distinct from us. They are genetically distant from humans and live in a world of weightlessness, 3D movement, and different senses. Despite being solitary, short-lived invertebrates, they display sophisticated behaviors like tool use and problem-solving. This challenges the idea that intelligence only evolved in social animals. The overarching aim of this research is to elucidate aspects of intelligence and awareness in the octopus by conducting three studies to test for:

1. Social interactions and self-awareness
2. Active sleep and parasomnias
3. Choice and control, providing agency to octopuses to determine if and how they make choices and changes to their environment.

The social interactions between octopuses and any behavioral differences between an octopus interacting with another octopus vs. interactions with their own image in a mirror will be analyzed in Study 1.

Study 2 concentrates on the active phase of octopus sleep. The team will collect data on dynamic skin patterning during active sleep following exposure to novel camouflage backgrounds, as well as other events that happen during sleep.

In Study 3, the team will expose octopuses to various means of controlling their own environment to test if octopus will exhibit enhanced learning under choice-and-control paradigms.