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Plant cognition

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J. C. Bose has been described as the "father of plant neurobiology"[1]

Plant cognition (also known as plant intelligence or plant neurobiology) is a field of plant biology which aims to understand how plants process the information they obtain from their environment.[2][3][4] Plant neurobiological researchers claim that plants possess abilities associated with cognition including anticipation, decision making, learning and memory.[3][5][6]

Terminology used in plant neurobiology is rejected by many botanists as misleading as plants do not possess consciousness or neurons.[7][8][9][10]

History

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In 1811, James Perchard Tupper authored An Essay on the Probability of Sensation in Vegetables which argued that plants possess a low form of sensation.[11][12] He has been cited as an early botanist "attracted to the notion that the ability of plants to feel pain or pleasure demonstrated the universal beneficence of a Creator".[13]

The notion that plants are capable of feeling emotions was first recorded in 1848, when Gustav Fechner, an experimental psychologist, suggested that plants are capable of emotions and that one could promote healthy growth with talk, attention, attitude, and affection.[14]

The idea of cognition in plants was explored by Charles Darwin in 1880 in the book The Power of Movement in Plants, co-authored with his son Francis. Using a neurological metaphor, he described the sensitivity of plant roots in proposing that the tip of roots acts like the brain of some lower animals. This involves reacting to sensation in order to determine their next movement[15] even though plants possess neither brains nor nerves. John Ellor Taylor in his 1884 book The Sagacity and Morality of Plants argued that plants are conscious agents.[16]

Jagadish Chandra Bose invented various devices and instruments to measure electrical responses in plants.[17][18] According to biologist Patrick Geddes "In his investigations on response in general Bose had found that even ordinary plants and their different organs were sensitive— exhibiting, under mechanical or other stimuli, an electric response, indicative of excitation."[19] One visitor to his laboratory, the vegetarian playwright George Bernard Shaw, was intensely disturbed upon witnessing a demonstration in which a cabbage had "convulsions" as it boiled to death.[20] Jagadish Chandra Bose is considered an important forerunner of plant neurobiology by proponents of plant cognition.[21][22][1] Bose was the author of The Nervous Mechanism of Plants, published in 1926. Karl F. Kellerman, Associate Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, United States Department of Agriculture criticized Bose's interpretation of the results from his experiments, stating that he failed to prove the conclusions from his reports that plants feel pain. Kellerman commented that "Sir Jagadar passed an electric current through plants, and his instruments recorded a break in the current. Such variations in resistance to electric current are found even when passing a current through dead matter".[23]

In 1900, ornithologist Thomas G. Gentry authored Intelligence in Plants and Animals which argued that plants have consciousness. Historian Ed Folsom described it as "an exhaustive investigation of how such animals as bees, ants, worms and buzzards, as well as all kinds of plants, display intelligence and thus have souls".[24] Captain Arthur Smith in the early 1900s authored the first article on "plant consciousness".[25][26] In 1905, Rev. Charles Fletcher Argyll Saxby authored a pamphlet, Do Plants Think? Some speculations concerning a neurology and psychology of plants.[27] Maurice Maeterlinck wrote about the intelligence of flowers in 1907.[28]

Anthony Trewavas is credited with reintroducing the idea of plant intelligence in the early 2000s.[28][29][30] Modern research on plant cognition is conducted by researchers associated with the Society for Plant Neurobiology that was established in 2005.[6] Due to criticisms from botanists and complaints from early members that affiliations with the Society were negatively impacting their careers, the Society was renamed the Society of Plant Signaling and Behavior (SPSB) in 2009.[6][31]

A minority of researchers within the field of plant neurobiology argue that plants are conscious organisms.[32][33][34] František Baluška argues for a model called the Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) which proposes that all cells are conscious.[32] The model has been criticized for being based on only speculation and lacking empirical evidence for its claim that cells have consciousness.[35][36]

Research

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In 2003, Anthony Trewavas led a study to see how the roots interact with one another and study their signal transduction methods. He was able to draw similarities between water stress signals in plants affecting developmental changes and signal transductions in neural networks causing responses in muscle.[29] Particularly, when plants are under water stress, there are abscisic acid dependent and independent effects on development.[37] This brings to light further possibilities of plant decision-making based on its environmental stresses. The integration of multiple chemical interactions show evidence of the complexity in these root systems.[38]

In 2012, Paco Calvo Garzón and Fred Keijzer speculated that plants exhibited structures equivalent to (1) action potentials (2) neurotransmitters and (3) synapses. Also, they stated that a large part of plant activity takes place underground, and that the notion of a 'root brain' was first mooted by Charles Darwin in 1880. Free movement was not necessarily a criterion of cognition, they held. The authors gave five conditions of minimal cognition in living beings, and concluded that 'plants are cognitive in a minimal, embodied sense that also applies to many animals and even bacteria.'[39] In 2017 biologists from University of Birmingham announced that they found a "decision-making center" in the root tip of dormant Arabidopsis seeds.[40]

In 2014, Anthony Trewavas released a book called Plant Behavior and Intelligence that highlighted a plant's cognition through its colonial-organization skills reflecting insect swarm behaviors.[41] This organizational skill reflects the plant's ability to interact with its surroundings to improve its survivability, and a plant's ability to identify exterior factors. Evidence of the plant's minimal cognition of spatial awareness can be seen in their root allocation relative to neighboring plants.[39] The organization of these roots have been found to originate from the root tip of plants.[42]

On the other hand, Peter A. Crisp and his colleagues proposed a different view on plant memory in their review: plant memory could be advantageous under recurring and predictable stress; however, resetting or forgetting about the brief period of stress may be more beneficial for plants to grow as soon as the desirable condition returns.[43]

Affifi (2018) proposed an empirical approach to examining the ways plants model coordinate goal-based behaviour to environmental contingency as a way of understanding plant learning.[44] According to this author, associative learning will only demonstrate intelligence if it is seen as part of teleologically integrated activity. Otherwise, it can be reduced to mechanistic explanation.

Raja et al (2020) found that potted French bean plants, when planted 30 centimetres from a garden cane, would adjust their growth patterns to enable themselves to use the cane as a support in the future. Raja later stated that "If the movement of plants is controlled and affected by objects in their vicinity, then we are talking about more complex behaviours (rather than simple) reactions". Raja proposed that researchers should look for corresponding cognitive signatures.[45][46]

In 2017 Yokawa, K. et al. found that, when exposed to anesthetics, a number of plants lost both their autonomous and touch-induced movements. Venus flytraps no longer generate electrical signals and their traps remain open when trigger hairs were touched, and growing pea tendrils stopped their autonomous movements and were immobilized in a curled shape.[47]

Criticism

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The idea of plant cognition is a source of controversy and is rejected by the majority of plant scientists.[7][8][9][48] Plant neurobiology has been criticized for misleading the public.[49]

Amadeo Alpi and 35 other scientists published an article in 2007 titled "Plant Neurobiology: No Brain, No Gain?" in Trends in Plant Science.[7] In this article, they argue that since there is no evidence for the presence of neurons in plants, the idea of plant neurobiology and cognition is unfounded and needs to be redefined.[7] In response to this article, Francisco Calvo Garzón published an article in Plant Signaling and Behavior.[5] He states that, while plants do not have neurons as animals do, they do possess an information-processing system composed of cells. He argues that this system can be used as a basis for discussing the cognitive abilities of plants.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Minorsky, Peter V. (2021). "American racism and the lost legacy of Sir Jagadis Chandra Bose, the father of plant neurobiology". Plant Signal Behav. 16 (1): 1818030. doi:10.1080/15592324.2020.1818030. PMC 7781790. PMID 33275072.
  2. ^ Brenner ED, Stahlberg R, Mancuso S, Vivanco J, Baluska F, Van Volkenburgh E. (2006). "Plant neurobiology: an integrated view of plant signaling". Trends Plant Sci. 11 (8): 413–419. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2006.06.009. PMID 16843034.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ a b Lee, Jonny (2023). "What is cognitive about 'plant cognition'?". Biology & Philosophy. 38 (18). doi:10.1007/s10539-023-09907-z.
  4. ^ Trewavas, Anthony (2017). "The foundations of plant intelligence". Interface Focus. 7 (3): 20160098. doi:10.1098/rsfs.2016.0098. PMID 28479977.
  5. ^ a b Garzón FC (July 2007). "The quest for cognition in plant neurobiology". Plant Signaling & Behavior. 2 (4): 208–11. Bibcode:2007PlSiB...2..208C. doi:10.4161/psb.2.4.4470. PMC 2634130. PMID 19516990.
  6. ^ a b c Minorsky, Peter V. (2024). "The "plant neurobiology" revolution". Plant Signaling & Behavior. 19 (1). doi:10.1080/15592324.2024.2345413. PMC 11085955. PMID 38709727.
  7. ^ a b c d Alpi A, Amrhein N, Bertl A, Blatt MR, Blumwald E, Cervone F, et al. (April 2007). "Plant Neurobiology: No Brain, No Gain?". Trends in Plant Science. 12 (4): 135–6. Bibcode:2007TPS....12..135A. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2007.03.002. PMID 17368081.
  8. ^ a b Taiz, Lincoln; Alkon, Daniel; Draguhn, Andreas; Murphy, Angus; Blatt, Michael; Hawes, Chris; Thiel, Gerhard; Robinson, David G. (2019). "Plants Neither Possess nor Require Consciousness". Trends in Plant Science. 24 (8): 677–687. doi:10.1016/j.tplants.2019.05.008. PMID 31279732.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ a b Mallatt J, Blatt MR, Draguhn A, Robinson DG, Taiz L. (2020). "Debunking a myth: plant consciousness". Protoplasma. 258 (3): 459–476. doi:10.1007/s00709-020-01579-w. PMC 8052213. PMID 33196907.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Pigliucci, Massimo (2024). "Are Plants Conscious?". Skeptical Inquirer. 48 (5).
  11. ^ Macdougal, D. T. (1895). "Irritability and Movement in Plants". Popular Science Monthly. 47: 225–234.
  12. ^ Sha, Richard C. (2009). Perverse Romanticism: Aesthetics and Sexuality in Britain, 1750–1832. Johns Hopkins University. pp. 60-61. ISBN 978-0-8018-9041-3
  13. ^ Whippo, Craig W; Hangarter, Roger P. (2009). "The "Sensational" Power of Movement in Plants: A Darwinian System for Studying the Evolution of Behavior". American Journal of Botany. 96 (12): 2115–2127. doi:10.3732/ajb.0900220. PMID 21622330.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Heidelberger, Michael. (2004). Nature From Within: Gustav Theodor Fechner and his Psychophysical Worldview. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 54. ISBN 0-8229-4210-0
  15. ^ Darwin, C. (1880). The Power of Movement in Plants. London: John Murray. Darwin Online : "The course pursued by the radicle in penetrating the ground must be determined by the tip; hence it has acquired such diverse kinds of sensitiveness. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the tip of the radicle thus endowed, and having the power of directing the movements of the adjoining parts, acts like the brain of one of the lower animals; the brain being seated within the anterior end of the body, receiving impressions from the sense-organs, and directing the several movements."
  16. ^ "The Sagacity of Plants". The Month. 57 (264): 217–225. 1886.
  17. ^ Galston, Arthur W; Slayman, Clifford L. "The Not-So-Secret Life of Plants" (PDF). American Scientist. 67 (3): 337–344. JSTOR 27849226.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ V. A Shepard cited in Alexander Volkov. (2012). Plant Electrophysiology: Methods and Cell Electrophysiology. Springer. p. 12. ISBN 978-3-642-29119-7 "Bose began by applying delicate instrumentation he had invented in his semiconductor research to deliver electrical stimuli and record electrical responses from various plant parts... He discovered that both living animal and plant tissues exhibited a diminution of sensitivity after continuous stimulation, recovery after rest, a 'staircase' or summation of electrical effects following mechanical stimulation, abolition of current flow after applying poisons and reduced sensitivity at low temperature."
  19. ^ Geddes, Patrick. (1920). The Life and Work of Sir Jagadis C. Bose. Longmans, Green & Company. p. 120
  20. ^ Geddes, Patrick. (1920). The Life and Work of Sir Jagadis C. Bose. Longmans, Green & Company. p. 146
  21. ^ Kingsland, Sharon E; Taiz, Lincoln (2024). "Plant "intelligence" and the misuse of historical sources as evidence". Protoplasma. doi:10.1007/s00709-024-01988-1. PMID 39276228.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  22. ^ Tandon PN (2019). "Jagdish Chandra Bose & plant neurobiology". Indian J Med Res. 149 (5): 593–599. doi:10.4103/ijmr.IJMR_392_19. PMC 6702694. PMID 31417026.
  23. ^ "Pain in Plants". The Florists' Review. 58 (4): 36. 1926.
  24. ^ Folsom, Ed (1983). "The Mystical Ornithologist and the Iowa Tufthunter: Two Unpublished Whitman Letters and Some Identifications" (PDF). Walt Whitman Quarterly Review. 1: 18–29. doi:10.13008/2153-3695.1003.
  25. ^ Smith, Arthur (1907). "Plant Consciousness". The Arena. 37 (211): 570–576.
  26. ^ Smith, Arthur (1913). "The Brain Power of Plants". Gardener's Chronicle of America. 16 (5): 427–429.
  27. ^ "Do Plants Think?". The Gardeners' Chronicle. 3 (39): 57. 1906.
  28. ^ a b Cvrcková F, Lipavská H, Zárský V. (2009). "Plant intelligence: Why, why not or where?". Plant Signal Behav. 4 (5). doi:10.4161/psb.4.5.8276. PMID 19816094.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ a b Trewavas A (July 2003). "Aspects of plant intelligence". Annals of Botany. 92 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1093/aob/mcg101. PMC 4243628. PMID 12740212.
  30. ^ Trewavas, Anthony (2002). "Plant intelligence: Mindless mastery". Nature. 415 (841). doi:10.1038/415841a.
  31. ^ Nasser, Latif (2012). "The long, strange quest to detect plant consciousness". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on November 30, 2024.
  32. ^ a b Reber, Arthur S; Baluška, František (2021). "Cognition in some surprising places". Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. 564: 150–157. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2020.08.115.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ Mallatt J, Taiz L, Draguhn A, Blatt MR, Robinson DG. (2021). "Integrated information theory does not make plant consciousness more convincing". Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 564: 166–169. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2021.01.022. PMID 33485631.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ Hansen, Mads Jørgensen (2024). "A critical review of plant sentience: moving beyond traditional approaches". Biology & Philosophy. 39 (13). doi:10.1007/s10539-024-09953-1.
  35. ^ Key, Brian (2016). ""Cellular basis of consciousness": Not just radical but wrong". Animal Sentience. 11 (5): 1–2. doi:10.51291/2377-7478.1163.
  36. ^ Robinson DG, Mallatt J, Peer WA, Sourjik V, Taiz L. (2024). "Cell consciousness: a dissenting opinion: The cellular basis of consciousness theory lacks empirical evidence for its claims that all cells have consciousness". EMBO Reports. 25 (5): 2162–2167. doi:10.1038/s44319-024-00127-4. PMID 38548972.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  37. ^ Shinozaki K (2000). "Molecular responses to dehydration and low temperature: differences and cross-talk between two stress signaling pathways". Current Opinion in Plant Biology. 3 (3): 217–223. doi:10.1016/s1369-5266(00)00067-4. PMID 10837265.
  38. ^ McCully ME (June 1999). "ROOTS IN SOIL: Unearthing the Complexities of Roots and Their Rhizospheres". Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology. 50: 695–718. doi:10.1146/annurev.arplant.50.1.695. PMID 15012224.
  39. ^ a b Garzon P, Keijzer F (2011). "Plants: Adaptive behavior, root-brains, and minimal cognition" (PDF). Adaptive Behavior. 19 (3): 155–171. doi:10.1177/1059712311409446. S2CID 5060470.
  40. ^ Topham AT, Taylor RE, Yan D, Nambara E, Johnston IG, Bassel GW (June 2017). "Temperature variability is integrated by a spatially embedded decision-making center to break dormancy in Arabidopsis seeds". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 114 (25): 6629–6634. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.6629T. doi:10.1073/pnas.1704745114. PMC 5488954. PMID 28584126.
  41. ^ Trewavas 2014, p. 95-96.
  42. ^ Trewavas 2014, p. 140.
  43. ^ Crisp PA, Ganguly D, Eichten SR, Borevitz JO, Pogson BJ (February 2016). "Reconsidering plant memory: Intersections between stress recovery, RNA turnover, and epigenetics". Science Advances. 2 (2): e1501340. Bibcode:2016SciA....2E1340C. doi:10.1126/sciadv.1501340. PMC 4788475. PMID 26989783.
  44. ^ Affifi R (2018). "Deweyan Psychology in Plant Intelligence Research: Transforming Stimulus and Response". In Baluska F, Gagliano M, Witzany G (eds.). Memory and Learning in Plants. Signaling and Communication in Plants. Cham.: Springer. pp. 17–33. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-75596-0_2. ISBN 978-3-319-75595-3.
  45. ^ "Plants: Are they conscious?". BBC Science Focus Magazine. 5 February 2021. Retrieved 6 February 2021.
  46. ^ Raja, Vicente; Silva, Paula L.; Holghoomi, Roghaieh; Calvo, Paco (December 2020). "The dynamics of plant nutation". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 19465. Bibcode:2020NatSR..1019465R. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-76588-z. PMC 7655864. PMID 33173160.
  47. ^ Yokawa, K; Kagenishi, T; Pavlovič, A; Gall, S; Weiland, M; Mancuso, S; Baluška, F (11 December 2017). "Anaesthetics stop diverse plant organ movements, affect endocytic vesicle recycling and ROS homeostasis, and block action potentials in Venus flytraps". Annals of Botany. 122 (5): 747–756. doi:10.1093/aob/mcx155. PMC 6215046. PMID 29236942.
  48. ^ Draguhn A, Mallatt JM, Robinson DG. (2021). "Anesthetics and plants: no pain, no brain, and therefore no consciousness". Protoplasma. 258 (2): 239–248. doi:10.1007/s00709-020-01550-9. PMC 7907021. PMID 32880005.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  49. ^ Robinson, David G; Draguhn, Andreas; Taiz, Lincoln (2020). "Plant "intelligence" changes nothing". EMBO Reports. 21 (5): e50395. doi:10.15252/embr.202050395. PMC 7202214. PMID 32301219.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

Further reading

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Plant intelligence and neurobiology

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Criticism

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