CogSci 2025

•

August 02, 2025

•

San Francisco, United States

keywords:

distributed cognition

embodied cognition

complex systems

biology

I propose that plant cognition is better understood by focusing on the overall form and structure of a plant that continuously unfolds via growth—its gestalt—rather than discrete movements of individual parts, such as roots, stems, or leaves. I conceptualize plant gestalt as a self regulating, dynamic, fractal structure that modulates information flow and simultaneously channels resources across scales, thereby coordinating perception-action within the plant and with other organisms. By integrating concepts like pink noise and self organized criticality, I link the statistical signatures of optimal coupling to the physical architecture of living plants. This structural lens reframes plant cognition: rather than being merely distributed beyond a nervous system, form follows function and is materially enacted by the ever changing topology of plant bodies. Recognizing gestalt growth as a cognitive substrate opens new research avenues into how plants sense, decide, and adapt, with the possibility of analyzing it as records of past decisions.

Downloads

Paper

Next from CogSci 2025

Probing articulatory representation learning for phonological distinctions
poster

Probing articulatory representation learning for phonological distinctions

CogSci 2025

Sean Foley

02 August 2025

Similar lecture

The Digital Greenhouse: Harnessing AI for Advanced Plant Growth Monitoring and Prediction
technical paper

The Digital Greenhouse: Harnessing AI for Advanced Plant Growth Monitoring and Prediction

SEB Conference 2024

Jan Zdražil

04 July 2024