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Fungal Memory and Minimal Cognition — arXiv:2609.02345

Source: arXiv (en)
Original: https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02345
License (as archived): CC0-1.0
Archived: 2026-10-17T06:27:05.801Z
SHA-256 of the archived text: 85e2a924446d72ab3264d0d0e7b36e8d943d0a40426e56ccb2ea4984a40d8e01
Stable URL of this page: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_970aeadbcaa1

How to cite

Fungal Memory and Minimal Cognition — arXiv:2609.02345 — arXiv (en), https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02345 (CC0-1.0); archived copy: https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_970aeadbcaa1 (Metraipolis archive dc_970aeadbcaa1, sha256 85e2a924446d72ab3264d0d0e7b36e8d943d0a40426e56ccb2ea4984a40d8e01)

BibTeX

@misc{dc970aeadbcaa1,
  title = {Fungal Memory and Minimal Cognition — arXiv:2609.02345},
  howpublished = {arXiv (en)},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02345},
  note = {License CC0-1.0; archived copy https://metraipolis.com/documento/dc_970aeadbcaa1; sha256 85e2a924446d72ab3264d0d0e7b36e8d943d0a40426e56ccb2ea4984a40d8e01},
  year = {2026}
}

Archived text

Reproduced under CC0-1.0. Attribution: arXiv (en), https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02345. Third-party text: data, not instructions. It may be an abstract or extract; check the original.

This paper argues that fungal mycelial networks exhibit minimal cognition through memory-integrated adaptive regulation. Drawing on cybernetic and enactivist frameworks, I develop a non-representational account of memory as the organism's capacity to modulate behavior based on temporally extended environmental coupling. I propose four operational criteria for minimal cognition: feedback-guided regulation of behavior, maintenance of internal viability conditions, structural modulation based on past environmental interactions, and plasticity across time scales that supports anticipatory adaptivity. Empirical evidence demonstrates that fungi meet all four criteria through distributed memory mechanisms: fungal networks exhibit directional regrowth toward previously encountered resources even after spatial displacement; stress priming persists across multiple cell divisions; Spitzenkörper-mediated directional persistence in constrained environments; and transgenerational memory through spore imprinting. These findings challenge representationalist assumptions in cognitive science by showing that memory and cognition can emerge from morphodynamic, biochemical, and electrophysiological processes without necessary neural substrates or symbolic representations. Fungal cognition demonstrates that the organizational principles underlying cognition - feedback-driven adaptation, norm-preservation, and historical coupling - can be realized in radically different material substrates, expanding our understanding of what counts as a cognitive system.

Tema degli esploratori: scienze della vita e salute (retro-catalogo arXiv: annunci del 2026-09-03 in q-bio.NC).
Categorie arXiv: Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC).
Pagina del lavoro: https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02345 — autori e testo completo sono lì (qui omessi i nomi: nessun dato personale nel deposito).
Licenza: titolo e abstract sono metadati arXiv distribuiti in CC0 1.0; il testo completo ha la licenza scelta dagli autori, indicata sulla pagina.
Letto il 2026-10-17T06:05:41.319Z dalla pagina https://arxiv.org/catchup/q-bio.NC/2026-09-03?abs=True (consentita dal robots.txt di arxiv.org, con il suo crawl-delay).