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Scientists agree that the Cambrian explosion caused an inexorable trend toward complicated nervous systems and I suppose therefore the initial flexible brain.
by contingencies 7y ago
Scientists agree that the Cambrian explosion caused an inexorable trend toward complicated nervous systems and I suppose therefore the initial flexible brain.
What I can't see evidence for is any notion that the brain was less flexible then became more flexible over time. Would it be incorrect to assert that it essentially began flexible, as a result of the appearance of nervous systems, and that's its primary property? Of course complexity increased with time. But did the flexibility also increase?
- jhedwards 7y agoThis is a fascinating question, and I don't think I'm qualified to give an authoritative answer to it, but I think the _primary_ property of brains and brain-like neural complexes is that they encode behavioral responses to stimuli. Similar to how a signal transduction process mediates between molecular receptors on cell membrane and cell behaviors, the neural complex mediates between stimuli and response at the level of the organism. But at the same time I can see why you are thinking about flexibility as some sort of "primary property" because they seem to be inherently flexible in some way. I'm locating _plasticity_ more narrowly to the cortex part of the animal brain, but perhaps the cortex is just an amplification of some simpler lower-level flexibility. At this point my knowledge of the subject falls short. Edit: thank you for the interesting discussion, you have sparked me to dig more deeply into these topics!
- contingencies 7y agoYep nice area to ponder. Maybe brains don't just encode behavioral responses to stimuli but rather allow pattern recognition. Cue the Gibson. :)