Non-neural cognition research (NnCR)
@nonneuralcognition.bsky.social
We are a multidisciplinary research group and team of philosophers, psychologists, and cognitive scientists that investigate cognitive processes in non-neural organisms. Visit our website for more information: nonneuralcognition.com
🪩🌟 Updated speakers for the ISPSM workshop coming up this week (23/10, 8am EDT/1pm BST): Don't forget to register: tinyurl.com/ISPSMInConve...
ispsm@ispsm.bsky.social · 2w agoDelighted to confirm that Mathilde Tahar (UCL) @drmathildetahar.bsky.social is also included in our expert line-up!!
New preprint! ✨ In a recent study led by Qiuran Wang (@slimyleaf.bsky.social) and Niels Gaspers (@nielsgasp.bsky.social), we set out to examine if an acellular slime mould can do associative learning. Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... #philsky #cogsci #animalbehaviour #basalcognition 🧪
Exposure to paired blue light and nutrient alters aversive responses in Physarum polycephalum
Whilst forms of non-associative learning such as habituation are widely reported in single-celled organisms, whether associative learning is possible in systems without a nervous system is contested. ...
biorxiv.org
Not a definitive, but an intriguing study on associative conditioning in slime molds: "Exposure to paired blue light and nutrient alters aversive responses in Physarum polycephalum" https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.09.750388v2 #biology #research #learning #memory #conditioning
Exposure to paired blue light and nutrient alters aversive responses in Physarum polycephalum
Whilst forms of non-associative learning such as habituation are widely reported in single-celled organisms, whether associative learning is possible in systems without a nervous system is contested. In this study, we implemented a conditioning paradigm in the acellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum through repeated pairings of nutrients with an aversive blue light stimulus. We first established that blue light is aversive under our conditioning protocol, slowing migration and producing broader, less directed growth, confirming its well documented effect on behaviour. Subjects were then trained in up to four training sessions by placing an oat stimulus inside a region with blue light before testing with the light presented alone. Trained subjects were more likely to reach the blue light region compared to untrained controls, with shorter latency, suggesting that Physarum weakens its avoidance of blue light after the region has repeatedly coincided with a nutrient. However, engagement did not strengthen with additional pairings, a pattern that admits multiple competing explanations in which associative and non-associative processes plausibly contribute to more transient associative-like effects. We conclude that a history of co-presentation is sufficient to relax an aversive response in Physarum but cannot, within the present study, attribute that change to associative learning. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest.
biorxiv.org
How do philosophers and scientists of mind actually work together, and where does the collaboration break down? ISPSM is launching In Conversation, a new online series that aims to bring philosophers and scientists together to work through questions like these. 📅 23 Oct 2026, 1pm BST/8am EDT
Hello, #AcademicSky! We are a highly collaborative philosophy group interested in the life sciences—esp. #evobio, #cellbio, #devbio, #PaleoSky, #ethology, #cogsci & #AI. Follow us for research updates & the work catching our eye across #philosophy & science! www.theramseylab.org #philsci #HPbio 🧪
Excited for what looks to be a fantastic conference on agency, learning and other related topics in cognitive modelling, hosted by the Human Interactivity and Language Lab, University of Warsaw (Oct 22-25). Join us for walks and talks in the Polish Tatra mountains: hill.psych.uw.edu.pl/cogsys2026/
Peripatetic Conference 2026
hill.psych.uw.edu.pl
Amazing to see @kli.ac.at friend, @libertysevers.bsky.social, presenting in Tübingen about her fascinating work on slime molds! 🎉🎉
Delighted to be participating in the @philsci.bsky.social symposium “Beyond Hierarchy: Heterarchical control in biological and cognitive systems” this fall, organised by Leonardo Bich and featuring a stellar line-up of contributors! ✨
New work w/ Zach Kelso and @madeleinecsnyder.bsky.social www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... Our negative results on classical conditioning in planarian flatworms. This was surprising, given the long history of work (including sensational findings of memory transfer and retention through decapitation).
It’s that time again! Delighted to announce the call for abstracts for ISPSM 2026 and our keynote speakers! ✨ Dates: 4-6 November 2026 Link for submissions: tinyurl.com/ISPSM-abstra... Deadline for submissions: 31/07/2026 #philsky
🌟KLI Fellow, Liberty Severs @libertysevers.bsky.social, gave a Brown Bag Talk on "Reinforcement learning and the organisation of agency" and sparked great discussion on agency and adaptation, representation in strange agents, etc. 👏👏👏 Check out her new paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Some shiny new output from the non-neural cognition research initiative, out now open access in Biological Reviews ✨
Liberty Severs@libertysevers.bsky.social · 10mo agoNow published in Biological Reviews! Continual decision‐making dynamics across biological organisms onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...
Join us for another year celebrating ISPSM! Registration still open - and still free to all.
ispsm@ispsm.bsky.social · last yr.💫 Our conference #ISPSM25 is just around the corner (24-26 October). We hope to see you there! ✨ Visit our website for more information about the programme and to register: www.ispsmind.com/internationa...
✨🪩Our website just got a fresh update! 🪩✨ Click on the following link for access to all things ISPSM2025, including the registration form for this years conference: www.ispsmind.com/internationa... #philmind #philsci #philsky
✨Delighted that NnCR’s own Qiuran Wang (@slimyleaf.bsky.social) will be hosting a keynote symposium on mapping theoretical and experimental perspectives on non-neural cognition, together with the excellent Margherita Bianchi and Leonardo Bich.
ispsm@ispsm.bsky.social · last yr.We are very excited to share the conference schedule and book of abstracts for this year’s ISPSM! 💫 Link to schedule: tiny.cc/ISPSM2025sch... Link to book of abstracts: tiny.cc/ISPSM2025boo... #philmind #philsky
from www.instagram.com/yeweijun98 Slime molds eat the microbes on decaying plants but not the microbes on decaying animals. Badhamia (Physarum) polycephala is an unusually adventurous eater who also enjoys mushrooms, oats, and probably a number of other things! I wonder what's up with the peanut
This week @universitypress.cambridge.org has granted free access to all titles in the collection of Cambridge Elements in the Philosophy of Biology, edited by Grant Ramsey. There are many options to choose from! Happy reading! 📕👇 www.cambridge.org/core/publica... #philsci #HPbio #evosky #ISHPSSB2025
Niels Gaspers from our lab team is presenting NNcRs first poster and preliminary results at @rldmdublin2025.bsky.social 🍀
Having a ball in Berlin listening to Ida Momennejad give a beautiful talk on redefining intelligence through ecology
started to analyse some pilot data this week - a beautiful and painful experience with our dear slime mould #slimecam