Fungal States of Minds
Andrew Adamatzky, Jordi Vallverdu, Antoni Gandia, Alessandro Chiolerio, Oscar Castro, Gordana Dodig-Crnkovic
bioRxiv Preprint Server April 3, 2022 preprint DOI: 10.1101/2022.04.03.486900 via bioRxiv
Summary
Fungi produce patterns of electrical activity that resemble neural signals in animals, including low and high frequency oscillations and spike trains. This neural-like electrical activity is considered a manifestation of fungal intelligence. The paper discusses fungal cognitive capabilities and intelligence from an evolutionary perspective, questioning whether fungi are conscious and what fungal consciousness means given their complex behaviors, sensory abilities, learning, memory, and decision-making. Experimental evidence supports the conclusion that fungi exhibit forms of cognition, intelligence, and consciousness.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Fungal intelligence Mycology Bioelectricity Comparative cognition Fungal cognition |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key finding | Fungi exhibit neural-like electrical activity and complex behaviors that indicate forms of cognition, intelligence, and consciousness. |
Abstract
Fungal organisms can perceive the outer world in a way similar to what animals sense. Does that mean that they have full awareness of their environment and themselves? Is a fungus a conscious entity? In laboratory experiments we found that fungi produce patterns of electrical activity, similar to neurons. There are low and high frequency oscillations and convoys of spike trains. The neural-like electrical activity is yet another manifestation of the fungal intelligence. In this paper we discuss fungal cognitive capabilities and intelligence in evolutionary perspective, and question whether fungi are conscious and what does fungal consciousness mean, considering their exhibiting of complex behaviours, a wide spectrum of sensory abilities, learning, memory and decision making. We overview experimental evidences of consciousness found in fungi. Our conclusions allow us to give a positive answer to the important research questions of fungal cognition, intelligence and forms of consciousness.