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Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution
Discussions of the function of early nervous systems usually focus on a causal flow from sensors to effectors, by which an animal coordinates its actions with exogenous changes in its environment. We propose, instead, that much early sensing was reafferent; it was responsive to the consequences of t...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
The Royal Society
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7934971/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33550954 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0764 |
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author | Jékely, Gáspár Godfrey-Smith, Peter Keijzer, Fred |
author_facet | Jékely, Gáspár Godfrey-Smith, Peter Keijzer, Fred |
author_sort | Jékely, Gáspár |
collection | PubMed |
description | Discussions of the function of early nervous systems usually focus on a causal flow from sensors to effectors, by which an animal coordinates its actions with exogenous changes in its environment. We propose, instead, that much early sensing was reafferent; it was responsive to the consequences of the animal's own actions. We distinguish two general categories of reafference—translocational and deformational—and use these to survey the distribution of several often-neglected forms of sensing, including gravity sensing, flow sensing and proprioception. We discuss sensing of these kinds in sponges, ctenophores, placozoans, cnidarians and bilaterians. Reafference is ubiquitous, as ongoing action, especially whole-body motility, will almost inevitably influence the senses. Corollary discharge—a pathway or circuit by which an animal tracks its own actions and their reafferent consequences—is not a necessary feature of reafferent sensing but a later-evolving mechanism. We also argue for the importance of reafferent sensing to the evolution of the body-self, a form of organization that enables an animal to sense and act as a single unit. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Basal cognition: multicellularity, neurons and the cognitive lens’. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7934971 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | The Royal Society |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-79349712021-03-24 Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution Jékely, Gáspár Godfrey-Smith, Peter Keijzer, Fred Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci Part II: The Transition to Nervous Systems Discussions of the function of early nervous systems usually focus on a causal flow from sensors to effectors, by which an animal coordinates its actions with exogenous changes in its environment. We propose, instead, that much early sensing was reafferent; it was responsive to the consequences of the animal's own actions. We distinguish two general categories of reafference—translocational and deformational—and use these to survey the distribution of several often-neglected forms of sensing, including gravity sensing, flow sensing and proprioception. We discuss sensing of these kinds in sponges, ctenophores, placozoans, cnidarians and bilaterians. Reafference is ubiquitous, as ongoing action, especially whole-body motility, will almost inevitably influence the senses. Corollary discharge—a pathway or circuit by which an animal tracks its own actions and their reafferent consequences—is not a necessary feature of reafferent sensing but a later-evolving mechanism. We also argue for the importance of reafferent sensing to the evolution of the body-self, a form of organization that enables an animal to sense and act as a single unit. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Basal cognition: multicellularity, neurons and the cognitive lens’. The Royal Society 2021-03-29 2021-02-08 /pmc/articles/PMC7934971/ /pubmed/33550954 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0764 Text en © 2021 The Authors. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Part II: The Transition to Nervous Systems Jékely, Gáspár Godfrey-Smith, Peter Keijzer, Fred Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution |
title | Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution |
title_full | Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution |
title_fullStr | Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution |
title_full_unstemmed | Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution |
title_short | Reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution |
title_sort | reafference and the origin of the self in early nervous system evolution |
topic | Part II: The Transition to Nervous Systems |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7934971/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33550954 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0764 |
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