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= '''Cognition and Decision''' =
= '''Cognition and Decision''' =


= edited by Steven Shaviro =
= edited by Steven Shaviro =


== [http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Cognition_and_decision/Introduction '''Introduction''']<br>  ==
== [http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Cognition_and_decision/Introduction '''Introduction''']<br>  ==


What is the relationship between life and thought? Are all living organisms capable of thinking? Or is thought restricted to animals with nervous systems and brains? Or is it restricted only to human beings, or to us and a few of the other ‘higher’ animals? In any case, what is the relation between thought (which takes place, we like to say, in the mind) and the actual physical processes that take place in the brains of animals and human beings when they are thinking? For that matter, what does it mean to say that thinking, like other forms of organic activity, is subject to, and determined by, physical laws? Is it meaningful to ascribe ‘free will’ to human beings and other organisms? Or are thought processes strictly deterministic, so that ‘free will’ is just an illusion?
What is the relationship between life and thought? Are all living organisms capable of thinking? Or is thought restricted to animals with nervous systems and brains? Or is it restricted only to human beings, or to us and a few of the other ‘higher’ animals? In any case, what is the relation between thought (which takes place, we like to say, in the mind) and the actual physical processes that take place in the brains of animals and human beings when they are thinking? For that matter, what does it mean to say that thinking, like other forms of organic activity, is subject to, and determined by, physical laws? Is it meaningful to ascribe ‘free will’ to human beings and other organisms? Or are thought processes strictly deterministic, so that ‘free will’ is just an illusion? <br><br> These are all speculative, metaphysical questions, which philosophers have been actively discussing for at least several thousand years. They cannot be answered by science alone. But at the very least, biological research of the past several decades has given us vastly more information about cognition and thought, in human beings and in other organisms, than we ever possessed before. In what follows, I would like to look briefly at some of this research, and ponder its implications. [[http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Cognition_and_decision/Introduction '''Introduction'''] (more)] <br><br> '''Decision-Making and Free Will in Biological Organisms''' <br><br> Gabor Balazsi, Alexander van Oudenaarden, and James J. Collins Cellular Decision Making and Biological Noise: From Microbes to Mammals Cell, Volume 144, Issue 6, 910-925, 18 March 2011 DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2011.01.030 [http://www.bu.edu/abl/files/cell_balazsi.pdf] <br><br> Alexander Maye, Chih-hao Hsieh, George Sugihara, Bjorn Brembs (2007) Order in spontaneous behavior PLoS ONE 2(5): e443. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000443 [http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000443] <br><br> Björn Brembs (2010) Towards a scientific concept of free will as a biological trait: spontaneous actions and decision-making in invertebrates Proceedings of the Royal Society, 25 November 2010 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2325 [http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/12/14/rspb.2010.2325] <br><br> '''BACTERIAL COGNITION''' <br><br> Eshel Ben Jacob, Yoash Shapira, Alfred I. Tauber Seeking the foundations of cognition in bacteria: From Schrodinger's negative entropy to latent information Physica A 359 (2006) 495–524 doi:10.1016/j.physa.2005.05.096 [http://star.tau.ac.il/~eshel/papers/sdarticle.pdf] <br><br> '''PLANT COGNITION''' <br><br> Anthony Trewavas (2003) Aspects of plant intelligence Annals of Botany 92: 1-20, 2003 doi:10.1093/aob/mcg101 [http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/92/1/1.full] <br><br> Ian T. Baldwin, Rayko Halitschke, Anja Paschold, Caroline C. von Dahl, Catherine A. Preston Volatile Signaling in Plant-Plant Interactions: "Talking Trees" in the Genomics Era Science 311, 812 (2006) DOI: 10.1126/science.1118446 [http://www.uvm.edu/~biology/Classes/269/talking_trees.pdf] <br><br> '''COGNITION AND DECISION IN SLIME MOLDS''' <br><br> Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Ryo Kobayashi, Yasumasa Nishiura, and Tetsuo Ueda Obtaining multiple separate food sources: behavioural intelligence in the Physarum plasmodium Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 2004 November 7; 271(1554): 2305–2310. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2856 [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691859/] <br><br> Tanya Latty and Madeleine Beekman (2010) Irrational decision-making in an amoeboid organism: transitivity and context-dependent preferences doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1045 [http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/08/05/rspb.2010.1045] <br><br> '''THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF COGNITION, DECISION, ACTIVITY, AND MOODS''' <br><br> Björn Brembs (2008) The importance of being active J. Neurogenetics, 2008, 1-7 doi: 10.1080/01677060802471643 [http://bjoern.brembs.net/request79.html] <br><br> Melissa Bateson, Suzanne Desire, Sarah E. Gartside, and Geraldine A. Wright Agitated Honeybees Exhibit Pessimistic Cognitive Biases Current Biology 21, 1070–1073, June 21, 2011 DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.017 [http://www.cell.com/current-biology/retrieve/pii/S0960982211005446] <br><br> [http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Cognition_and_decision/Attributions Attributions]
<br><br>
These are all speculative, metaphysical questions, which philosophers have been actively discussing for at least several thousand years. They cannot be answered by science alone. But at the very least, biological research of the past several decades has given us vastly more information about cognition and thought, in human beings and in other organisms, than we ever possessed before. In what follows, I would like to look briefly at some of this research, and ponder its implications. [[http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Cognition_and_decision/Introduction '''Introduction'''] (more)]
<br><br>
'''DECISION-MAKING AND FREE WILL IN BIOLOGICAL ORGANISMS'''  
<br><br>
Gabor Balazsi, Alexander van Oudenaarden, and James J. Collins Cellular Decision Making and Biological Noise: From Microbes to Mammals Cell, Volume 144, Issue 6, 910-925, 18 March 2011 DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2011.01.030 [http://www.bu.edu/abl/files/cell_balazsi.pdf]  
<br><br>
Alexander Maye, Chih-hao Hsieh, George Sugihara, Bjorn Brembs (2007) Order in spontaneous behavior PLoS ONE 2(5): e443. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000443 [http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000443]  
<br><br>
Björn Brembs (2010) Towards a scientific concept of free will as a biological trait: spontaneous actions and decision-making in invertebrates Proceedings of the Royal Society, 25 November 2010 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2325 [http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/12/14/rspb.2010.2325]  
<br><br>
'''BACTERIAL COGNITION'''  
<br><br>
Eshel Ben Jacob, Yoash Shapira, Alfred I. Tauber Seeking the foundations of cognition in bacteria: From Schrodinger's negative entropy to latent information Physica A 359 (2006) 495–524 doi:10.1016/j.physa.2005.05.096 [http://star.tau.ac.il/~eshel/papers/sdarticle.pdf]  
<br><br>
'''PLANT COGNITION'''  
<br><br>
Anthony Trewavas (2003) Aspects of plant intelligence Annals of Botany 92: 1-20, 2003 doi:10.1093/aob/mcg101 [http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/92/1/1.full]  
<br><br>
Ian T. Baldwin, Rayko Halitschke, Anja Paschold, Caroline C. von Dahl, Catherine A. Preston Volatile Signaling in Plant-Plant Interactions: "Talking Trees" in the Genomics Era Science 311, 812 (2006) DOI: 10.1126/science.1118446 [http://www.uvm.edu/~biology/Classes/269/talking_trees.pdf]  
<br><br>
'''COGNITION AND DECISION IN SLIME MOLDS'''  
<br><br>
Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Ryo Kobayashi, Yasumasa Nishiura, and Tetsuo Ueda Obtaining multiple separate food sources: behavioural intelligence in the Physarum plasmodium Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 2004 November 7; 271(1554): 2305–2310. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2856 [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1691859/]  
<br><br>
Tanya Latty and Madeleine Beekman (2010) Irrational decision-making in an amoeboid organism: transitivity and context-dependent preferences doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1045 [http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/08/05/rspb.2010.1045]  
<br><br>
'''THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF COGNITION, DECISION, ACTIVITY, AND MOODS'''  
<br><br>
Björn Brembs (2008) The importance of being active J. Neurogenetics, 2008, 1-7 doi: 10.1080/01677060802471643 [http://bjoern.brembs.net/request79.html]  
<br><br>
Melissa Bateson, Suzanne Desire, Sarah E. Gartside, and Geraldine A. Wright Agitated Honeybees Exhibit Pessimistic Cognitive Biases Current Biology 21, 1070–1073, June 21, 2011 DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.017 [http://www.cell.com/current-biology/retrieve/pii/S0960982211005446]
<br><br>
[http://www.livingbooksaboutlife.org/books/Cognition_and_decision/Attributions Attributions]

Revision as of 13:45, 29 August 2011

 

CognitiondecisionCover1.jpg
CognitiondecisionCover1.jpg


Cognition and Decision

edited by Steven Shaviro

Introduction

What is the relationship between life and thought? Are all living organisms capable of thinking? Or is thought restricted to animals with nervous systems and brains? Or is it restricted only to human beings, or to us and a few of the other ‘higher’ animals? In any case, what is the relation between thought (which takes place, we like to say, in the mind) and the actual physical processes that take place in the brains of animals and human beings when they are thinking? For that matter, what does it mean to say that thinking, like other forms of organic activity, is subject to, and determined by, physical laws? Is it meaningful to ascribe ‘free will’ to human beings and other organisms? Or are thought processes strictly deterministic, so that ‘free will’ is just an illusion?

These are all speculative, metaphysical questions, which philosophers have been actively discussing for at least several thousand years. They cannot be answered by science alone. But at the very least, biological research of the past several decades has given us vastly more information about cognition and thought, in human beings and in other organisms, than we ever possessed before. In what follows, I would like to look briefly at some of this research, and ponder its implications. [Introduction (more)]

Decision-Making and Free Will in Biological Organisms

Gabor Balazsi, Alexander van Oudenaarden, and James J. Collins Cellular Decision Making and Biological Noise: From Microbes to Mammals Cell, Volume 144, Issue 6, 910-925, 18 March 2011 DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2011.01.030 [1]

Alexander Maye, Chih-hao Hsieh, George Sugihara, Bjorn Brembs (2007) Order in spontaneous behavior PLoS ONE 2(5): e443. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0000443 [2]

Björn Brembs (2010) Towards a scientific concept of free will as a biological trait: spontaneous actions and decision-making in invertebrates Proceedings of the Royal Society, 25 November 2010 doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2325 [3]

BACTERIAL COGNITION

Eshel Ben Jacob, Yoash Shapira, Alfred I. Tauber Seeking the foundations of cognition in bacteria: From Schrodinger's negative entropy to latent information Physica A 359 (2006) 495–524 doi:10.1016/j.physa.2005.05.096 [4]

PLANT COGNITION

Anthony Trewavas (2003) Aspects of plant intelligence Annals of Botany 92: 1-20, 2003 doi:10.1093/aob/mcg101 [5]

Ian T. Baldwin, Rayko Halitschke, Anja Paschold, Caroline C. von Dahl, Catherine A. Preston Volatile Signaling in Plant-Plant Interactions: "Talking Trees" in the Genomics Era Science 311, 812 (2006) DOI: 10.1126/science.1118446 [6]

COGNITION AND DECISION IN SLIME MOLDS

Toshiyuki Nakagaki, Ryo Kobayashi, Yasumasa Nishiura, and Tetsuo Ueda Obtaining multiple separate food sources: behavioural intelligence in the Physarum plasmodium Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 2004 November 7; 271(1554): 2305–2310. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2004.2856 [7]

Tanya Latty and Madeleine Beekman (2010) Irrational decision-making in an amoeboid organism: transitivity and context-dependent preferences doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.1045 [8]

THE BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF COGNITION, DECISION, ACTIVITY, AND MOODS

Björn Brembs (2008) The importance of being active J. Neurogenetics, 2008, 1-7 doi: 10.1080/01677060802471643 [9]

Melissa Bateson, Suzanne Desire, Sarah E. Gartside, and Geraldine A. Wright Agitated Honeybees Exhibit Pessimistic Cognitive Biases Current Biology 21, 1070–1073, June 21, 2011 DOI 10.1016/j.cub.2011.05.017 [10]

Attributions