Research results show that abilities such as memory and learning are not limited to the brain, and there are applications to the fields of AI and robots.
Most scientists believe that intellectual abilities such as learning, memory, and problem-solving were created with the first creation of the brain 500 million years ago. On the other hand, some scientists acknowledge that the brain is an organ with high processing power, but intellectual abilities such as thinking and recognition reside in 'cells,' and the brain strengthens them to improve cognitive abilities. It points out that
Brains Are Not Required When It Comes to Thinking and Solving Problems--Simple Cells Can Do It | Scientific American
Rowan Jacobsen, who mainly writes biological articles for the scientific journal Scientific American, explains insights into cognitive systems through observations of planarians . Planarians are flatworms that have remarkable regenerative abilities; even if they are torn up and down, a new tail will grow from the head and a new head from the tail, and they will begin to move as two planarians.
Michael Levin, who primarily studies single-celled organisms at Tufts University in the United States, focuses on planarians that survive and regenerate their heads even after they have completely lost their heads. I'm thinking, 'Isn't it?' Mr. Levin expressed, ``All intelligence is a ``collective intelligence'' that has a recognition system made up of some parts.''
In his research, Levin tricked the planarians into learning that there was tasty food by dropping pureed liver in the middle of a plate. Planarians soon learn to successfully overcome corrugated plates, which they normally don't like, and head towards the food. In the same way, planarians learned the food location using a smooth plate where they could easily move, and prepared ``Planaria A that learned to feed on a steeply corrugated plate'' and ``Planaria B that learned to feed on a smooth plate.''
They then decapitated the trained planarian and waited about two weeks for a new head to regrow from its tail. As a result, although the regenerated planaria B were afraid of the terrain and did not move on the corrugated plate, the regenerated planaria A remembered that there was food beyond the rugged terrain, and most of them went to eat food. that's right.
This led Levin to conclude that, ``Even though the planarians had completely lost their brains, they retained their memories and learning before they lost their brains.'' This discovery led to a new field called ``basic cognition,'' and research that evolved from it discovered that characteristics of intelligence, such as learning, memory, and problem solving, are found not only inside the brain but also outside it. In other words, according to researchers in basic cognition, the difference between the brain and other cells is not a matter of whether they can memorize or learn, but rather a matter of how highly they can memorize and learn. It is said that it is.
Plants are also attracting attention as an example of brainless organisms capable of memory and learning. Stefano Mancuso, a researcher on plant intelligence at the University of Florence in Italy, says, ``Almost all cells in plants have the normal ability to generate electrical signals.''
A research team at the University of Florence has found that plants that have a defense reaction that prevents them from being eaten by folding and wilting when touched, can be stimulated without hurting them, and they quickly learn to ignore the stimulation. I discovered. When the plants were left alone for a month and then given the same stimulus, they apparently remembered the experience.
'Plants' most remarkable behaviors tend to be underestimated because they are the ones we see every day,' says Jacobsen. According to Jacobsen, plants know exactly what form they have and are sensitive to the sights, sounds, and smells of their surroundings. From this, it is thought that even though we have no brain and only a limited number of cells, we have a certain ability to recognize the world, remember it, and solve problems.
The traditional view of memory is that ``memories are stored as stable networks of synaptic connections between neurons in the brain,'' but Levin says ``that view is clearly broken.'' Masu. According to Levin's idea, memory ability may be possessed by all cells, not just neurons, and is also stored not only within cells but also in minute biological electrical currents that flow through the bodies of living organisms. That's what he said.
In research carried out in the 2000s, Levin found different voltages on the cranial and caudal sides of planarians, and after changing the voltage on the caudal side in the same way as on the cranial side and then cutting off the tail, he found that The second head regenerated. In subsequent research, they succeeded in inducing the production of eyes and legs by applying a specific voltage to tadpoles.
Levin compares this to programming and calls it `` subroutine calling.'' By controlling it at the level of bioelectricity, cells work together to generate organs without having to closely manage the detailed structures of the eyes and legs. We have shown that we can control it.
Research into basic cognition and discoveries that approach cells using bioelectricity are thought to have important implications for human medicine. Since cancer occurs when one part of the body stops cooperating with other parts, Levin points out that ``talking'' directly to cells using bioelectricity could be useful for cancer treatment. Additionally, if scientists can decipher the bioelectricity that tells cells to start growing in the right pattern, it could also help regenerate failing kidneys, hearts, and more.
Planarian stem cells with amazing regenerative ability have been found to have the ability to delay death - GIGAZINE
Basic cognition is also being considered for application in a variety of other fields. Jacobsen says, ``Research on basic cognition provides artificial intelligence scientists with a way to escape from the assumption that future artificial intelligence must imitate brain-centered human models.'' In addition, when it comes to philosophical thinking, research into basic cognition can free us from the limitations of the brain, which may lead to new ideas.
Josh Bongard, a robotics engineer at the University of Vermont who frequently collaborates with Levin, has a ``body-based'' approach to designing robots that focuses on how the robot's shape (body) interacts with the world. He is a pioneer of 'personal cognition'. Mr. Bongart said, ``Although AI is too smart and has high calculation ability, it is not good at moving robots and interacting with the world.In research on basic cognition, we are trying to understand the system and why we need a body. should progress,' he said.
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