ArticleProtoplasma2021
Awareness and integrated information theory identify plant meristems as sites of conscious activity.
Article in Protoplasma, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Plant emotion revisited: toward a new conceptual framework.Protoplasma · 2026Review
- Plant intelligence dux: a comprehensive rebuttal of Kingsland and Taiz.Protoplasma · 2025Article
- Plant "intelligence" and the misuse of historical sources as evidence.Protoplasma · 2025Review
- Understanding otherness-the anthropocentrism trap.Protoplasma · 2025Article
- Mechanosensing and anesthesia of single internodal cells ofPlant signaling & behavior · 2024Article
- Perspectives in Plant Abiotic Stress Signaling.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Interplay of Methodology and Conceptualization in Plant Abiotic Stress Signaling.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Laying it on thick: a study in secondary growth.Journal of experimental botany · 2022Review
- Plants make smart decisions in complex environments.Plant signaling & behavior · 2021Review
- Intelligence without neurons: a Turing Test for plants?Protoplasma · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Lacking an anatomical brain/nervous system, it is assumed plants are not conscious. The biological function of consciousness is an input to behaviour; it is adaptive (subject to selection) and based on information. Complex language makes human consciousness unique. Consciousness is equated to awareness. All organisms are aware of their surroundings, modifying their behaviour to improve survival. Awareness requires assessment too. The mechanisms of animal assessment are neural while molecular and electrical in plants. Awareness of plants being also consciousness may resolve controversy. The integrated information theory (IIT), a leading theory of consciousness, is also blind to brains, nerves and synapses. The integrated information theory indicates plant awareness involves information of two kinds: (1) communicative, extrinsic information as a result of the perception of environmental changes and (2) integrated intrinsic information located in the shoot and root meristems and possibly cambium. The combination of information constructs an information nexus in the meristems leading to assessment and behaviour. The interpretation of integrated information in meristems probably involves the complex networks built around [Ca
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.