Jul 4, 2019 01:56 AM
The case against plant consciousness: Plants don't feel, learn & think -- they grow
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...121448.htm
EXCERPT: . . . Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt concluded that only vertebrates, arthropods, and cephalopods possess the threshold brain structure for consciousness. And if there are animals that don't have consciousness, then you can be pretty confident that plants, which don't even have neurons -- let alone brains -- don't have it either," says Lincoln Taiz, Professor Emeritus of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at University of California at Santa Cruz.
The topic of whether plants can think, learn, and intentionally choose their actions has been under debate since the establishment of plant neurobiology as a field in 2006. Taiz was an original signer of a letter, also in Trends in Plant Science, arguing against the suggestion that plants have neurobiology to study at all.
"The biggest danger of anthropomorphizing plants in research is that it undermines the objectivity of the researcher," Taiz says. "What we've seen is that plants and animals evolved very different life strategies. The brain is very expensive organ, and there's absolutely no advantage to the plant to have a highly developed nervous system."
Plant neurobiology proponents draw parallels between electrical signaling in plants and nervous systems in animals. But Taiz and his co-authors argue that the proponents draw this parallel by describing the brain as something no more complex than a sponge. The Feinberg-Mallatt model of consciousness, by contrast, describes a specific level of organizational complexity of the brain that is required for subjective experience.
Plants use electrical signals in two ways: to regulate the distribution of charged molecules across membranes and to send messages long-distance across the organism. In the former, a plant's leaves might curl up because the movement of ions resulted in movement of water out of the cells, which changes their shape; and in the latter, an insect bite on one leaf might initiate defense responses of distant leaves. Both actions can appear like a plant is choosing to react to a stimulus, but Taiz and his co-authors emphasize that these responses are genetically encoded and have been fine-tuned through generations of natural selection.
"I feel a special responsibility to take a public position because I'm a co-author of a plant physiology textbook," he says. "I know a lot of people in the plant neurobiology community would like to see their field in the textbooks, but so far, there are just too many unanswered questions." (MORE)
Columbia researchers controlled the behavior in a mouse's brain with single-cell precision
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...070319.php
EXCERPT: For the first time, a team of neuroscientists from Columbia University have controlled a visual behavior of a mouse by activating a few neurons in its visual cortex. In their study, published in Cell, the researchers demonstrated that specific groups of neurons, known as neuronal ensembles, have a causal role in behavior.
"This is the most exciting work to come out of my laboratory in decades since we are proving that cortical ensembles are key for behavior and that we can play the piano with them and alter at will the behavioral performance of animals," said Rafael Yuste, the senior author of the study and professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia. "The data indicates, moreover, that neuronal ensembles are internal representations of a visual stimulus," added Yuste, who is also a member of the Data Science Institute at Columbia.
The research may have significant applications in medicine. Identifying physiologically relevant neuronal ensembles with single-cell precision could be used to reorganize the patterns of activity between targeted neurons and to reprogram faulty neural circuits. And reorganizing those neuronal patterns has the potential to treat pathological conditions caused by abnormal activity patterns in mental and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease or schizophrenia, said Luis Carrillo-Reid, a former researcher in the Yuste Lab and lead author of the paper, "Controlling Visually Guided Behavior by Holographic Recalling of Cortical Ensembles."
"We are still far from using these methods as treatments for patients," said Carrillo-Reid, "but this study could represent a road map toward precisely reprogramming the brain, bringing neuroscience a step closer to the clinic." (MORE)
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/20...121448.htm
EXCERPT: . . . Todd Feinberg and Jon Mallatt concluded that only vertebrates, arthropods, and cephalopods possess the threshold brain structure for consciousness. And if there are animals that don't have consciousness, then you can be pretty confident that plants, which don't even have neurons -- let alone brains -- don't have it either," says Lincoln Taiz, Professor Emeritus of molecular, cell, and developmental biology at University of California at Santa Cruz.
The topic of whether plants can think, learn, and intentionally choose their actions has been under debate since the establishment of plant neurobiology as a field in 2006. Taiz was an original signer of a letter, also in Trends in Plant Science, arguing against the suggestion that plants have neurobiology to study at all.
"The biggest danger of anthropomorphizing plants in research is that it undermines the objectivity of the researcher," Taiz says. "What we've seen is that plants and animals evolved very different life strategies. The brain is very expensive organ, and there's absolutely no advantage to the plant to have a highly developed nervous system."
Plant neurobiology proponents draw parallels between electrical signaling in plants and nervous systems in animals. But Taiz and his co-authors argue that the proponents draw this parallel by describing the brain as something no more complex than a sponge. The Feinberg-Mallatt model of consciousness, by contrast, describes a specific level of organizational complexity of the brain that is required for subjective experience.
Plants use electrical signals in two ways: to regulate the distribution of charged molecules across membranes and to send messages long-distance across the organism. In the former, a plant's leaves might curl up because the movement of ions resulted in movement of water out of the cells, which changes their shape; and in the latter, an insect bite on one leaf might initiate defense responses of distant leaves. Both actions can appear like a plant is choosing to react to a stimulus, but Taiz and his co-authors emphasize that these responses are genetically encoded and have been fine-tuned through generations of natural selection.
"I feel a special responsibility to take a public position because I'm a co-author of a plant physiology textbook," he says. "I know a lot of people in the plant neurobiology community would like to see their field in the textbooks, but so far, there are just too many unanswered questions." (MORE)
Columbia researchers controlled the behavior in a mouse's brain with single-cell precision
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...070319.php
EXCERPT: For the first time, a team of neuroscientists from Columbia University have controlled a visual behavior of a mouse by activating a few neurons in its visual cortex. In their study, published in Cell, the researchers demonstrated that specific groups of neurons, known as neuronal ensembles, have a causal role in behavior.
"This is the most exciting work to come out of my laboratory in decades since we are proving that cortical ensembles are key for behavior and that we can play the piano with them and alter at will the behavioral performance of animals," said Rafael Yuste, the senior author of the study and professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia. "The data indicates, moreover, that neuronal ensembles are internal representations of a visual stimulus," added Yuste, who is also a member of the Data Science Institute at Columbia.
The research may have significant applications in medicine. Identifying physiologically relevant neuronal ensembles with single-cell precision could be used to reorganize the patterns of activity between targeted neurons and to reprogram faulty neural circuits. And reorganizing those neuronal patterns has the potential to treat pathological conditions caused by abnormal activity patterns in mental and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease or schizophrenia, said Luis Carrillo-Reid, a former researcher in the Yuste Lab and lead author of the paper, "Controlling Visually Guided Behavior by Holographic Recalling of Cortical Ensembles."
"We are still far from using these methods as treatments for patients," said Carrillo-Reid, "but this study could represent a road map toward precisely reprogramming the brain, bringing neuroscience a step closer to the clinic." (MORE)
