What is basal cognition?
- Type
- Background entry
- Sources
- 6
Basal cognition: cells, plants and fungi possess real information-processing minds beneath brains.
Summary
Basal cognition reframes cognition as a biological capacity rather than a privilege of nervous systems. Researchers investigate how cells and other non-neural organisms acquire and use information, evaluate conditions, learn, anticipate and coordinate action. The strongest rationale is evolutionary continuity: mechanisms supporting these capacities appeared before neurons and may remain embedded in later biological organization.
- Research scopeCognition can be studied across the tree of life, linking cell biology, evolution, developmental biology and cognitive science.
- MechanismsSingle-cell and tissue-level processes may reveal simpler versions of functions later implemented by nervous systems.
- The programme treats cognition as an information-processing and adaptive biological capacity that can occur below the level of brains and nervous systems.
- Its evolutionary strategy is to investigate simpler organisms to identify mechanisms conserved or elaborated in more complex cognitive systems.
- The proposed domain includes perception, memory, valuation, decision-making, learning, anticipation and communication in non-neural life.
Source mix
6 of 6 institutional
- 6 Journals & institutions
Deeper Insight
Cells, plants and fungi process information without brains. Mind may be biology's ancient trick, not humanity's private property.
A single cell can sense conditions, store information, learn and change course without a nervous system. Basal cognition says these are not brain-only talents, but ancient capacities that evolution later built on. The danger is calling every biological adjustment thought. The prize is a testable account of how mind began.
- What it could changeIt could push biology to trace memory and decision-making back to cells, plants and fungi.
- How it touches todayResearchers already test learning and information use in living things that have no brains.
- Our futureIf the continuum holds, humans would be late arrivals, not the only life with a mind.
- Philosophical and scientific scepticism centers on whether cognition is meaningfully applicable to bacteria and other non-neural organisms.
- The debate partly reflects competing definitions: broad accounts include acquiring, storing and using environmental information, while narrower traditions reserve cognition for neural organisms.
- The “minimal cognition” debate warns that minimizing language can obscure whether a process is a reduced form of a known function or merely an unspecified precursor.
Sources · 6
- 6 Journals & institutions
What do these mean?
- Journals & institutions. Published in a peer-reviewed journal, or from a university, government body, court or other institution.
Featured · Analysis · doi.org
Basal cognition: shifting the center of gravity (again)
Journal · peer-reviewed
# Basal cognition: shifting the center of gravity (again) Animal Cognition. Published: 2023-11-01. 26 citations. ## Authors - Pamela Lyon (The University of Adelaide): h-index 13; 1,569 citations; corresponding author - Ken Cheng (Macquarie University): h-index 56; 11,454 citations; corresponding au
Read sourceAnalysis · link.springer.com
On the prospects of basal cognition research becoming fully evolutionary: promising avenues and cautionary notes | History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences | Springer Nature Link
Journal · peer-reviewed
On the prospects of basal cognition research becoming fully evolutionary: promising avenues and cautionary notes | History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences | Springer Nature Link # On the prospects of basal cognition research becoming fully evolutionary: promising avenues and cautionary notes - O
Read sourceAnalysis · philsci-archive.pitt.edu
Easy Alliances: The Methodology of Minimally Cognitive Behavior (MMCB) and Basal Cognition
Institution
Easy Alliances: The Methodology of Minimally Cognitive Behavior (MMCB) and Basal Cognition ## Abstract: Although the cognitive sciences produce abundant data, progress in understanding the fundamental aspects of cognition has been hindered by a proliferation of interpretive frameworks. Getting a bet
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