Why an animal needs a brain

Anim Cogn. 2023 Dec 2. doi: 10.1007/s10071-023-01825-7. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTIn Principles of Neural Design (2015, MIT Press), inspired by Charles Darwin, Sterling and Laughlin undertook the unfashionable task of distilling principles from facts in the technique-driven, data-saturated domain of neuroscience. Their starting point for deriving the organizing principles of brains are two brainless single-celled organisms, Escherichia coli and Paramecium, and the 302-neuron brain of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The book is an exemplar in how to connect the dots between simpler and (much) more complex organisms in a particular area. Here, they have generously agreed to republish an abridged version of Chapter 2 (Why an Animal Needs a Brain), in which many of their principles are first described.PMID:38041700 | DOI:10.1007/s10071-023-01825-7
Source: Animal Cognition - Category: Zoology Authors: Source Type: research