Dr. Diego Bohórquez

You know, as what we detect of the world is just a very tiny little portion, right?

Even sight, you know, like we think we are looking for light, but I don't know what is happening behind my back.

I trust that everything is going okay, right?

So when we shut off these cells,

The animal, and as I usually say, became blind to the sugars because it's kind of like akin to having turned off the cells that are able to detect light, the wavelength of light, for us to be able to discern color.

And it's not that the animal is losing its memory because then if you remove the light and now the cells are functional again, then the animal again is able to distinguish one solution over the other.

And then we did a couple more experiments in there.

And what happens if we do the reverse?

If we turn on the cells now?

And the fascinating thing is that when we turn on the cells, now the mouse will eat the sweetener as if it will be sugar.

Interesting.

So here's another piece of information.

If we will offer them water and we will turn on the cells,

the animal will drink the water as if it will be sugar, like it will be appetizing.

Even though it's just plain water.

Yes, and what is becoming very obvious is that the gut has this sense at the most basic level.

What the senses are doing is calculating a couple of things.

One is the salience of the stimulus.

It's like how intense is the stimulus.

And the other one is the valence of the stimulus.