ReviewAnimal cognition2023
Thoughts from the forest floor: a review of cognition in the slime mould Physarum polycephalum.
Review in Animal cognition, 2023. 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
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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.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 35 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mathematical modeling for a primitive form of habituation in an amoeba.Journal of mathematical biology · 2026Article
- Consciousness in the Brain: An Integrative Review of Contemporary Theories.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Article
- Early transitions in the evolution of cognition.History and philosophy of the life sciences · 2025Article
- Bottom-up robust modelling for the foraging behaviour ofJournal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Full identification of a growing and branching network's spatio-temporal structures.Biophysical journal · 2025Article
- A minimal model of cognition based on oscillatory and current-based reinforcement processes.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Chemical cognition: chemoconnectomics and convergent evolution of integrative systems in animals.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- An evidence-based critical review of the mind-brain identity theory.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Learning Without Neurons: A Review of Associative Memory in Protists.The Journal of eukaryotic microbiologyReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Sensing, communication, navigation, decision-making, memory and learning are key components in a standard cognitive tool-kit that enhance an animal's ability to successfully survive and reproduce. However, these tools are not only useful for, or accessible to, animals-they evolved long ago in simpler organisms using mechanisms which may be either unique or widely conserved across diverse taxa. In this article, I review the recent research that demonstrates these key cognitive abilities in the plasmodial slime mould Physarum polycephalum, which has emerged as a model for non-animal cognition. I discuss the benefits and limitations of comparisons drawn between neural and non-neural systems, and the implications of common mechanisms across wide taxonomic divisions. I conclude by discussing future avenues of research that will draw the most benefit from a closer integration of Physarum and animal cognition research.
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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.