How can octopuses control their eight arms so precisely and perform different tasks with each one?
What if I told you that an octopus can “think” with its arms?
Unlike us, much of your nervous system is not concentrated in the brain. More than two-thirds of its approximately 500 million neurons are spread throughout its arms.
Research has discovered that the nerve cord that runs through each one is also divided into segments that function as local control centers.
Thus, the suction cups can process sensory information and the arms can execute complex movements without constantly waiting for instructions from the central brain.
That’s why one octopus can explore a crevice with one arm while another manipulates an object.
They do not have eight independent brains, but their intelligence is extraordinarily distributed throughout the body.
Source: Olson, CS, Schulz, NG & Ragsdale, CW Neuronal segmentation in cephalopod arms. Nat Commun 16, 443 (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-55475-5
