Evolution of Complex Behavior, Perception, Cognition, Consciousness & the Brain | Paul Cisek | 107
Mind & Matter
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Is There a Basic Escape Function in a Primitive Organism?
David Wheeler: If we imagine a primitive organism, a lamprey or something, it's got, you know, primitive sensory abilities in the sense that it's not as sophisticated as us. It doesn't have anything that we would call a rich representation of what the threat is. And then it's just executing a simple behavior that will reliably move the animal out of harm's way. That can be a very simple, powerful circuit for a relatively primitive organism to use to promote survival.Wheeler: I wonder whether it tends to happen by differentiation and specialization. You don't want to mess up the system that gets you, that gives you that fast escape. However, if you duplicate it,
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