An associative learning experiment using the plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum

Shirakawa, Tomohiro; Gunji, Yukio Pegio; Miyake, Yoichi

doi:10.1016/j.nancom.2011.05.002

Cited by 56 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Whether capacities for simple learning in slime moulds extend beyond habituation and constitute a prerequisite for other forms of learning such as associative learning remains an open question. Previous attempts at showing associative learning processes in slime moulds had significant shortcomings [29]. In living organisms with nervous systems, behavioural habituation is the result of an alteration in neurons and synapses [16].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habituation in non-neural organisms: evidence from slime moulds

2016

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Learning, defined as a change in behaviour evoked by experience, has hitherto been investigated almost exclusively in multicellular neural organisms. Evidence for learning in non-neural multicellular organisms is scant, and only a few unequivocal reports of learning have been described in single-celled organisms. Here we demonstrate habituation, an unmistakable form of learning, in the non-neural organism Physarum polycephalum. In our experiment, using chemotaxis as the behavioural output and quinine or caffeine as the stimulus, we showed that P. polycephalum learnt to ignore quinine or caffeine when the stimuli were repeated, but responded again when the stimulus was withheld for a certain time. Our results meet the principle criteria that have been used to demonstrate habituation: responsiveness decline and spontaneous recovery. To distinguish habituation from sensory adaptation or motor fatigue, we also show stimulus specificity. Our results point to the diversity of organisms lacking neurons, which likely display a hitherto unrecognized capacity for learning, and suggest that slime moulds may be an ideal model system in which to investigate fundamental mechanisms underlying learning processes. Besides, documenting learning in non-neural organisms such as slime moulds is centrally important to a comprehensive, phylogenetic understanding of when and where in the tree of life the earliest manifestations of learning evolved.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habituation in non-neural organisms: evidence from slime moulds

2016

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“…In the performative syllogistic we have the following axioms: (12) ; SeP SaP  (13) ; PaS SaP  (14) ; PiS SiP  (15) ; SeP SaM  (16) ; SeP MaP  (17) ; ) ( SaP SaM MaP   (18) .…”

Section: B Examples Of Aristotelian Go Gamementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The behavior of plasmodia is very sensitive and intelligent [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [15], [17], [18], [19]. This behavior can be represented as a bio-inspired game theory on plasmodia [14], i.e.…”

Section: Introduction N the Physarum Chip Project: Growing Computementioning

confidence: 99%

Go Games on Plasmodia of Physarum Polycephalum

Schumann

2015

Annals of Computer Science and Information Systems

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Abstract-We simulate the motions of Physarum polycephalum plasmodium by the game of Go, the board game originated in ancient China more than 2,500 years ago. Then we concentrate just on Go games, where locations of black and white stones simulate syllogistic reasoning, in particular reasoning of Aristotelian syllogistic and reasoning of performative syllogistic. For the first kind of reasoning we need a special form of coalition games. For the second kind of reasoning we appeal to usual antagonistic games.

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“…[1]) has been shown to possess the ability to solve complex tasks like maze solving [2], network optimization in terms of path length and efficiency (globally [3,4] and also locally as it was found to prefer optimized network motifs [5]). Furthermore, P. polycephalum is even thought to possess certain learning capabilities [6][7][8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%