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Kanaev IA. Entropy and Cross-Level Orderliness in Light of the Interconnection between the Neural System and Consciousness. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 25:418. [PMID: 36981307 PMCID: PMC10047885 DOI: 10.3390/e25030418] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/30/2022] [Revised: 02/01/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Despite recent advances, the origin and utility of consciousness remains under debate. Using an evolutionary perspective on the origin of consciousness, this review elaborates on the promising theoretical background suggested in the temporospatial theory of consciousness, which outlines world-brain alignment as a critical predisposition for controlling behavior and adaptation. Such a system can be evolutionarily effective only if it can provide instant cohesion between the subsystems, which is possible only if it performs an intrinsic activity modified in light of the incoming stimulation. One can assume that the world-brain interaction results in a particular interference pattern predetermined by connectome complexity. This is what organisms experience as their exclusive subjective state, allowing the anticipation of regularities in the environment. Thus, an anticipative system can emerge only in a regular environment, which guides natural selection by reinforcing corresponding reactions and decreasing the system entropy. Subsequent evolution requires complicated, layered structures and can be traced from simple organisms to human consciousness and society. This allows us to consider the mode of entropy as a subject of natural evolution rather than an individual entity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilya A Kanaev
- Department of Philosophy, Sun Yat-sen University, 135 Xingang Xi Rd, Guangzhou 510275, China
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2
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Parise AG, de Toledo GRA, Oliveira TFDC, Souza GM, Castiello U, Gagliano M, Marder M. Do plants pay attention? A possible phenomenological-empirical approach. PROGRESS IN BIOPHYSICS AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2022; 173:11-23. [PMID: 35636584 DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2022.05.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/08/2022] [Revised: 05/17/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Attention is the important ability of flexibly controlling limited cognitive resources. It ensures that organisms engage with the activities and stimuli that are relevant to their survival. Despite the cognitive capabilities of plants and their complex behavioural repertoire, the study of attention in plants has been largely neglected. In this article, we advance the hypothesis that plants are endowed with the ability of attaining attentive states. We depart from a transdisciplinary basis of philosophy, psychology, physics and plant ecophysiology to propose a framework that seeks to explain how plant attention might operate and how it could be studied empirically. In particular, the phenomenological approach seems particularly important to explain plant attention theoretically, and plant electrophysiology seems particularly suited to study it empirically. We propose the use of electrophysiological techniques as a viable way for studying it, and we revisit previous work to support our hypothesis. We conclude this essay with some remarks on future directions for the study of plant attention and its implications to botany.
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Affiliation(s)
- André Geremia Parise
- Laboratory of Plant Cognition and Electrophysiology (LACEV), Department of Botany, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil.
| | - Gabriel Ricardo Aguilera de Toledo
- Laboratory of Plant Cognition and Electrophysiology (LACEV), Department of Botany, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
| | - Thiago Francisco de Carvalho Oliveira
- Laboratory of Plant Cognition and Electrophysiology (LACEV), Department of Botany, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
| | - Gustavo Maia Souza
- Laboratory of Plant Cognition and Electrophysiology (LACEV), Department of Botany, Institute of Biology, Federal University of Pelotas, Pelotas, RS, Brazil
| | - Umberto Castiello
- Neuroscience of Movement Laboratory (NEMO), Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy
| | - Monica Gagliano
- Biological Intelligence Laboratory (BI Lab), School of Environment, Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, Lismore, NSW, Australia
| | - Michael Marder
- Ikerbasque: Basque Foundation for Science & Department of Philosophy, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Spain
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3
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Yamasaki DT, Araki T, Narita TB. The polyketide synthase StlA is involved in inducing aggregation in Polysphondylium violaceum. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem 2022; 86:1590-1598. [PMID: 35998316 DOI: 10.1093/bbb/zbac144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2022] [Accepted: 08/17/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
In the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, the polyketide MPBD (4-methyl-5-pentylbenzene-1,3-diol) regulates the gene expressions of cAMP signaling to make cells aggregation-competent and also induces spore maturation. The polyketide synthase StlA is responsible for MPBD biosynthesis in D. discoideum and appears to be conserved throughout the major groups of the social amoeba (Dictyostelia). In this study, we analyzed the function of StlA in Polysphondylium violaceum by identifying the gene sequence and creating the knockout mutants. We found that Pv-stlA- mutants had defects only in cell aggregation but not in spore maturation, indicating that the function of StlA in inducing spore maturation is species-specific. We also found that MPBD could rescue the aggregation defect in Pv-stlA- mutants whereas the mutants normally exhibited chemotaxis to their chemoattractant, glorin. Our data suggest that StlA is involved in inducing aggregation in P. violaceum by acting on signaling pathways other than chemotaxis in P. violaceum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daiki T Yamasaki
- Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, Japan
| | - Tsuyoshi Araki
- Faculty of Science and Technology, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takaaki B Narita
- Department of Life Science, Faculty of Advanced Engineering, Chiba Institute of Technology, Chiba, Japan
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Mangalam M, Fragaszy DM, Wagman JB, Day BM, Kelty-Stephen DG, Bongers RM, Stout DW, Osiurak F. On the psychological origins of tool use. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2022; 134:104521. [PMID: 34998834 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2022.104521] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2021] [Revised: 12/01/2021] [Accepted: 01/01/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The ubiquity of tool use in human life has generated multiple lines of scientific and philosophical investigation to understand the development and expression of humans' engagement with tools and its relation to other dimensions of human experience. However, existing literature on tool use faces several epistemological challenges in which the same set of questions generate many different answers. At least four critical questions can be identified, which are intimately intertwined-(1) What constitutes tool use? (2) What psychological processes underlie tool use in humans and nonhuman animals? (3) Which of these psychological processes are exclusive to tool use? (4) Which psychological processes involved in tool use are exclusive to Homo sapiens? To help advance a multidisciplinary scientific understanding of tool use, six author groups representing different academic disciplines (e.g., anthropology, psychology, neuroscience) and different theoretical perspectives respond to each of these questions, and then point to the direction of future work on tool use. We find that while there are marked differences among the responses of the respective author groups to each question, there is a surprising degree of agreement about many essential concepts and questions. We believe that this interdisciplinary and intertheoretical discussion will foster a more comprehensive understanding of tool use than any one of these perspectives (or any one of these author groups) would (or could) on their own.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madhur Mangalam
- Department of Physical Therapy, Movement and Rehabilitation Science, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
| | | | - Jeffrey B Wagman
- Department of Psychology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61761, USA
| | - Brian M Day
- Department of Psychology, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN 46208, USA
| | | | - Raoul M Bongers
- Department of Human Movement Sciences, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, 9713 GZ Groningen, Netherlands
| | - Dietrich W Stout
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - François Osiurak
- Laboratoire d'Etude des Mécanismes Cognitifs, Université de Lyon, Lyon 69361, France; Institut Universitaire de France, Paris 75231, France
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Love A, Wagner GP. Co-option of stress mechanisms in the origin of evolutionary novelties. Evolution 2021; 76:394-413. [PMID: 34962651 PMCID: PMC9303342 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2021] [Revised: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/24/2021] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
It is widely accepted that stressful conditions can facilitate evolutionary change. The mechanisms elucidated thus far accomplish this with a generic increase in heritable variation that facilitates more rapid adaptive evolution, often via plastic modifications of existing characters. Through scrutiny of different meanings of stress in biological research, and an explicit recognition that stressors must be characterized relative to their effect on capacities for maintaining functional integrity, we distinguish between: (1) previously identified stress‐responsive mechanisms that facilitate evolution by maintaining an adaptive fit with the environment, and (2) the co‐option of stress‐responsive mechanisms that are specific to stressors leading to the origin of novelties via compensation. Unlike standard accounts of gene co‐option that identify component sources of evolutionary change, our model documents the cost‐benefit trade‐offs and thereby explains how one mechanism—an immediate response to acute stress—is transformed evolutionarily into another—routine protection from recurring stressors. We illustrate our argument with examples from cell type origination as well as processes and structures at higher levels of organization. These examples suggest a general principle of evolutionary origination based on the capacity to switch between regulatory states related to reproduction and proliferation versus survival and differentiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Love
- Department of Philosophy, Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Günter P Wagner
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT-06520.,Yale Systems Biology Institute, West Haven, CT-06516.,Department of Evolutionary Biology, University of Vienna, Austria
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Abstract
Analogies between placentation, in particular the behavior of trophoblast cells, and cancer have been noted since the beginning of the twentieth century. To what degree these can be explained as a consequence of the evolution of placentation has been unclear. In this review, we conclude that many similarities between trophoblast and cancer cells are shared with other, phylogenetically older processes than placentation. The best candidates for cancer hallmarks that can be explained by the evolution of eutherian placenta are mechanisms of immune evasion. Another dimension of the maternal accommodation of the placenta with an impact on cancer malignancy is the evolution of endometrial invasibility. Species with lower degrees of placental invasion tend to have lower vulnerability to cancer malignancy. We finally identify several areas in which one could expect to see coevolutionary changes in placental and cancer biology but that, to our knowledge, have not been explored. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Animal Biosciences, Volume 10 is February 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Günter P Wagner
- Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, West Haven, Connecticut, USA; , , .,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA
| | - Kshitiz
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut Health, Storrs, Connecticut, USA;
| | - Anasuya Dighe
- Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, West Haven, Connecticut, USA; , , .,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Andre Levchenko
- Systems Biology Institute, Yale University, West Haven, Connecticut, USA; , , .,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
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Evolution of Multicellularity. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:genes12101532. [PMID: 34680926 PMCID: PMC8535607 DOI: 10.3390/genes12101532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Accepted: 09/20/2021] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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Isaksson H, Conlin PL, Kerr B, Ratcliff WC, Libby E. The Consequences of Budding versus Binary Fission on Adaptation and Aging in Primitive Multicellularity. Genes (Basel) 2021; 12:661. [PMID: 33924996 PMCID: PMC8145350 DOI: 10.3390/genes12050661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Revised: 04/15/2021] [Accepted: 04/22/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Early multicellular organisms must gain adaptations to outcompete their unicellular ancestors, as well as other multicellular lineages. The tempo and mode of multicellular adaptation is influenced by many factors including the traits of individual cells. We consider how a fundamental aspect of cells, whether they reproduce via binary fission or budding, can affect the rate of adaptation in primitive multicellularity. We use mathematical models to study the spread of beneficial, growth rate mutations in unicellular populations and populations of multicellular filaments reproducing via binary fission or budding. Comparing populations once they reach carrying capacity, we find that the spread of mutations in multicellular budding populations is qualitatively distinct from the other populations and in general slower. Since budding and binary fission distribute age-accumulated damage differently, we consider the effects of cellular senescence. When growth rate decreases with cell age, we find that beneficial mutations can spread significantly faster in a multicellular budding population than its corresponding unicellular population or a population reproducing via binary fission. Our results demonstrate that basic aspects of the cell cycle can give rise to different rates of adaptation in multicellular organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Isaksson
- Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden;
- Integrated Science Lab, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
| | - Peter L. Conlin
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA; (P.L.C.); (W.C.R.)
| | - Ben Kerr
- Department of Biology, BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA;
| | - William C. Ratcliff
- Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Biological Sciences, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA; (P.L.C.); (W.C.R.)
| | - Eric Libby
- Department of Mathematics and Mathematical Statistics, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden;
- Integrated Science Lab, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM 87501, USA
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Lyon P, Keijzer F, Arendt D, Levin M. Reframing cognition: getting down to biological basics. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20190750. [PMID: 33487107 PMCID: PMC7935032 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The premise of this two-part theme issue is simple: the cognitive sciences should join the rest of the life sciences in how they approach the quarry within their research domain. Specifically, understanding how organisms on the lower branches of the phylogenetic tree become familiar with, value and exploit elements of an ecological niche while avoiding harm can be expected to aid understanding of how organisms that evolved later (including Homo sapiens) do the same or similar things. We call this approach basal cognition. In this introductory essay, we explain what the approach involves. Because no definition of cognition exists that reflects its biological basis, we advance a working definition that can be operationalized; introduce a behaviour-generating toolkit of capacities that comprise the function (e.g. sensing/perception, memory, valence, learning, decision making, communication), each element of which can be studied relatively independently; and identify a (necessarily incomplete) suite of common biophysical mechanisms found throughout the domains of life involved in implementing the toolkit. The articles in this collection illuminate different aspects of basal cognition across different forms of biological organization, from prokaryotes and single-celled eukaryotes-the focus of Part 1-to plants and finally to animals, without and with nervous systems, the focus of Part 2. By showcasing work in diverse, currently disconnected fields, we hope to sketch the outline of a new multidisciplinary approach for comprehending cognition, arguably the most fascinating and hard-to-fathom evolved function on this planet. Doing so has the potential to shed light on problems in a wide variety of research domains, including microbiology, immunology, zoology, biophysics, botany, developmental biology, neurobiology/science, regenerative medicine, computational biology, artificial life and synthetic bioengineering. This article is part of the theme issue 'Basal cognition: conceptual tools and the view from the single cell'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pamela Lyon
- Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5042, Australia
| | - Fred Keijzer
- Department of Theoretical Philosophy, Universityof Groningen, Oude Boteringestraat 52, Groningen 9712GL, The Netherlands
| | - Detlev Arendt
- Developmental Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69012 Heidelberg, Germany
- Centre for Organismal Studies, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 230, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Michael Levin
- Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
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