Re: Earliest Animal Memory?


"Inman Harvey" <inmanh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:dbnd7c$tlh$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> 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.

I would go along with the last statement. Of course, the
question then is what constitutes the minimal constitutional
requirements for a nervous system (or just a neuron of any
sort?) That is, with a little imagination, one could
speculate on myriad potentially possible physico-chemical
systems which could mimic our neuronal functions--are they
all possible? Is there even a requirement that carbon-based
chemistry need be utilized?

I mention this question as today I was watching a
documentary on the Science or National Geographic channel
about small jellyfish and crustaceans (and a whole mess of
salps, siphonophores, hydrozoans, and coelenterates--I just
now tried to figure out some of the taxonomy of some of
these things and gave up :)) .) Watching all these beautiful
things swim around and make a living (talk about amazing
nervous systems) was so incredible in their diversity and
their ecologies, I couldn't help but wonder if similar
things (of whatever composition and chemistry) could
possibly be swimming around in the hydrocarbon/water/ice[?]
lakes of Titan or other moons and planets doing their own
things there. O'course it'll be awhile before we know, and
it's certainly unlikely, but one can only dream...???
....tonyC

> 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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