VI. Life’s Cerebral Cognizance Becomes More Complex, Smarter, Informed, Proactive, Self-Aware

1. Animal Intelligence, Persona and Sociality

Margulis, Lynn. The Conscious Cell. Pedro Marijuan, ed. Cajal and Consciousness. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2001. From her studies of the symbiotic cell, Margulis perceives the presence in bacterial realms of a rudimentary “microbial mind.”

In my description of the origin of the eukaryotic cell via bacterial cell merger, the components fused via symbiogenesis are already “conscious” entities. (55)

Marino, Lori. Cetaceans and Primates: Convergence in Intelligence and Self-Awareness. Journal of Cosmology. Volume 14, 2011. In this issue on how prevalent sentient brethren might be across celestial reaches, for this online posting about a creative, mindful universe, the Emory University behavioral anthropologist avers that based on a common evolutionary emergence toward a similar cultural cognizance for these widely separated, anciently related species, there is good evidence for such a neighborly presence.

One of the ongoing debates within the astrobiology community has to do with contingency and convergence, that is, whether, if the "tape of life" were rewound, would complex intelligence evolve again on the earth. I argue that cetacean and primate intelligence is a case of cognitive convergence. Evolutionary convergence can occur within any domain of biology, from chemistry to morphology to cognition. Cognitive convergence, specifically, is convergence in those processes that comprise the way an organism processes information. In a general way cognitive convergence refers to convergence in intelligence. Since it is arguably the case that the common ancestor of cetaceans and primates, who lived over 95 million years ago, did not possess many of these shared traits, e.g., self-awareness, symbolic language comprehension, culture, the existence of these traits in these two highly divergent groups of mammals represents a striking case of cognitive convergence.

Marino, Lori. Convergence of Complex Cognitive Abilities in Cetaceans and Primates. Brain, Behavior and Evolution. 59/1-2, 2002. In contrast to the prevailing view, the Emory University neuroscientist cites new results to imply that the rise of intelligent cognition and societies will persistently occur across widely diverse species.

In this paper I will provide evidence that convergent intelligence has occurred in two distantly related mammalian taxa. Despite a deep evolutionary divergence…some primates and cetaceans show striking convergence in social behavior, artificial ‘language’ comprehension and self-recognition ability. (21)

Marino, Lori. SETI Begins at Home: Searching for Terrestrial Intelligence. Shostak, Seth, ed.. Progress in the Search for Extraterrestial Life. San Francisco: Astronomical Society of the Pacific, 1995. An early paper about Marino’s extraordinary work in understanding how dolphins interact and learn along with the general principles they can teach.

The bottom line, therefore, is that increasing information processing complexity may be the primary way to escape the restrictions of the physical environment….If this is the case, then for any organisms evolving in a physical environment (and I daresay the presumption is made that this is a universal constant) increasing amount, complexity, and speed of information processing may be the universal direction towards which all organisms move.

Marino, Lori. Thinking Chickens: A Review of Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior in the Domestic Chicken. Animal Cognition. 20/2, 2017. The founding director of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy in Kanab, Utah provides a most thorough study and appreciation to date about a personal and communal repertoire that this avian icon actually possesses.

Domestic chickens are members of an order, Aves, which has been the focus of a revolution in our understanding of neuroanatomical, cognitive, and social complexity. At least some birds are now known to be on par with many mammals in terms of their level of intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction. Yet, views of chickens have largely remained unrevised. Here I examine scientific data on the leading edge of cognition, emotions, personality, and sociality in chickens, exploring such self-awareness, cognitive bias, social learning and self-control. My overall conclusion is that chickens are just as cognitively, emotionally and socially complex as most other birds and mammals in many areas, and that there is a need for further noninvasive comparative behavioral research about their intelligence. (Abstract)

Marino, Lori and Debra Merskin. Intelligence, Complexity, and Individuality in Sheep. Animal Sentience. Vol. 4, 2019. This is a new journal all about creaturely sensitivities, along with practical, legal, ethical, sociological, and philosophical aspects. Biopsychologist Lori Marino is a biopsychologist was at Emory University and is now a leading advocate for this overdue reconception of how truly like human persons all manner of animals really are. Debra Merskin is a University of Oregon media scholar working to communicate these actual qualities so to improve the their treatment. (Temple Grandin has long had a similar mission.) Herein a species long viewed as sheepish is found to have an familiar array of emotional behaviors. See also in this journal, e.g., More Evidence of Complex Cognition in Nonhuman Species by Lesley Rogers (Vol.3, 2018) and Animal Sentience: The Other-Minds Problem by Stevan Harnad (Vol. 1, 2016).

Domestic sheep (Ovis aries) are among the earliest animals domesticated for human use. They are consumed worldwide as mutton, hogget, and lamb, kept as wool and milk producers, and used extensively in scientific research. The popular stereotype is that sheep are docile, passive, unintelligent, and timid, but a review of the research on their behavior, affect, cognition, and personality reveals that they are complex, individualistic, and social. (Abstract)

Martin, Cristofre and Richard Gordon. The Evolution of Perception. Cybernetics and Systems. 32/3-4, 2001. Insights into a “perceiving universe” which as a “perceptogenesis” has as a purpose or goal its own self-recognition.

Martin-Ordas, Gema. Inferential reasoning abilities in wild-caught bumblebees. Biology Letters. June, 2024. In a science news worthy paper, a University of Stirling, UK behavioral psychologist reports how she was able to discern even more cognitive capacities for this archetypal superorganic insect. One might then add that as all these current findings herein are recorded across vertebrates and invertebrates they altogether seem to imply the natural presence of an independent sophisticated intelligence which is accessible to each and every creature

The ability to decide by excluding alternatives is a logical reasoning that allows organisms to solve problems with incomplete information. Several species of vertebrates are able to find hidden food using inferential abilities. Yet little is known about invertebrate capabilities. I examined how bumblebees’ could locate a reward stimulus using direct or incomplete information, the latter by use inferential reasoning. To do so, I adapted three paradigms previously used with primates—the two-cup, three-cup and double two-cup tasks. Bumblebees succeeded in the three versions consistent with an inferential method. These findings highlight comparative studies with invertebrates so to gain a deeper track o the evolution of general cognitive abilities.

Mather, Jennifer. Cephalopod Consciousness. Consciousness and Cognition. 17/1, 2008. A University of Lethbridge, Canada, psychologist quantifies how our octopus, squid, and cuttlefish companions likewise possess cognitive capacities so as to add this creaturely class to the burgeoning fauna graced by a modicum of human-like sensibilities and activities.

Behavioural evidence suggests that cephalopod molluscs may have a form of primary consciousness. First, the linkage of brain to behaviour seen in lateralization, sleep and through a developmental context is similar to that of mammals and birds. Second, cephalopods, especially octopuses, are heavily dependent on learning in response to both visual and tactile cues, and may have domain generality and form simple concepts. Third, these animals are aware of their position, both within themselves and in larger space, including having a working memory of foraging areas in the recent past. Thus if using a ‘global workspace’ which evaluates memory input and focuses attention is the criterion, cephalopods appear to have primary consciousness. (37)

Mather, Jennifer. What is in an Octopus’s Mind? Animal Sentience. Volume 5, 2019. The senior University of Lethbridge, Canada marine psychologist provides an illustrated, update summary from two decades of collaborative aquatic and laboratory research. As a result a broad quantification of cerebral cephalopods with a wide repertoire of intelligent, thoughtful, clever behaviors suitable for their environs is achieved. Even though not brain based, once again a default display of bilateral functions (see A. Schnell) was activated for specialized predation and vigilance. This work is seen as a salient contribution to whole-scale on-going perceptions of a natural, ecognitive intelligent acumen which is beginning to appear as a universal ecosmic resource. See also Did a Cuttlefish Write This? by Veronique Greenwood, Veronique in the New York Times for July 9, 2021 for a further notice.

It is difficult to imagine what an animal as different from us as the octopus “thinks’”, but we can make some progress. In the perceptual world of an octopus, what the lateralized monocular eyes perceive is not color but the plane of polarization of light. Information is processed by a bilateral brain but manipulation is done by a radially symmetrical set of eight arms. The motor system of the eight arms is organized at brain, intrabrachial commissure and local brachial ganglia levels. The actions of octopuses can be domain general, with flexible problem-solving strategies, enabling them to survive “by their wits” in a challenging and variable environment. (Abstract excerpt)

Merker, Bjorn. The Liabilities of Mobility: A Selection Pressure for the Transition to Consciousness in Animal Evolution. Consciousness and Cognition. 14/1, 2005. (The special issue that contains this article is noted in Baars above) Among other forces, the need for enhanced, responsive movement impels an increasing sentient knowledge and awareness of an animal’s niche environment.

This suggests that consciousness arose as a solution to problems in the logistics of decision making in mobile animals with centralized brains, and has correspondingly ancient roots. (89)

Moroz, Leonid and DariaRomanova. Chemical cognition: Chemoconnectomics and convergent evolution of integrative systems in animals. Animal Cognition. November, 2023. University of Florida and Russian Academy of Science, Moscow researchers contribute deep 2020s insights to recover how original, rudimentary creatures yet possessed a relatively sophisticated neural cognizant abilities

Neurons underpin sentience in animals. However, the roots of their cognition are remain elusive. Here we propose that neural integrative systems evolved more than once within basal metazoan lineages such as ctenophores and neuroid-like placozoans and sponges. In addition, a chemical connectome mediated by hundreds of signal molecules operates in tandem with neurons as the informative source of emerging, adaptive properties. Uniting what we call chemoconnectomics with the cellular sources of behavior in basal metazoan lineages would decipher the origins and early evolution of elementary cognition and intelligence.

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