Re: Earliest Animal Memory?
- From: Inman Harvey <inmanh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2005 01:52:44 -0400 (EDT)
Theo R. wrote:
> What is the earliest and/or simplest animal whose CNS possesses a form of
> memory?
>
> Is it possible for even simpler animals (without a CNS) to have a memory?
How about Plants?
Sunflowers (eg Malvastrum rotundifolium) have a memory, as observed by
Darwin. During the day they track the sun, overnight they return to
where they "expect" the sun to rise at dawn - which varies with the
season. They can be trained in only two days to "learn" the direction of
sunrise - thereby demonstrating their *memory*.
For demonstrating short-term memory in plants, consider the Venus'
flytrap (needs 2 touches within about 35 seconds to be triggered, a
single touch is treated as a "false alarm"); or Mimosa pudica will
demonstrate habituation effects to repeated touching.
Memory - Yes. Nervous System - Yes. *Central* Nervous System - No.
For these examples see
The Action Plant: Movement and Nervous Behaviour in Plants
Paul Simons, 1992, Blackwell Publishers, ISBN0-631-13899-4
See also
Trewavas AJ. 2003. Aspects of plant intelligence. Annals of Botany 92:
1?20. [Google for online version]
Inman Harvey
--
Inman Harvey >> Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems Group (EASy) <<
COGS/CCNR/CSE >> Informatics, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK <<
inmanh@xxxxxxxxxx >> www.informatics.susx.ac.uk/users/inmanh/ <<
.
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