Fungal Memory and Minimal Cognition.
Topics in cognitive science July 2, 2026 Kristina Šekrst
Fungal mycelial networks display minimal cognition through memory-integrated adaptive regulation. Memory is defined as the capacity to modulate behavior based on past environmental interactions without requiring neural substrates or symbolic representations. Four criteria for minimal cognition are proposed: feedback-guided behavior regulation, maintenance of internal viability, structural modulation from past interactions, and plasticity enabling anticipatory adaptivity. Empirical evidence shows fungi meet all criteria: directional regrowth toward previously encountered resources after displacement, stress priming across cell divisions, directional persistence in constrained environments, and transgenerational memory via spore imprinting. These findings challenge representationalist assumptions, showing cognition can emerge from morphodynamic, biochemical, and electrophysiological processes in radically different material substrates.