A litmus test for plant consciousness: Pattern-Temporal Synergy in a relation-first ontology.
Commun Integr Biol October 13, 2025 Arie T. Greenleaf 1 citation
A new metric called Pattern-Temporal Synergy (PTS) offers a quantitative test for whether distributed plant activity meets criteria for conscious-level processing. The metric operationalizes five universal patterns—self-reference, division-creation, information integration, responsiveness, and flux—using established signal-processing measures, and requires a coherence gate specific to the system's binding window. Three preregistered hypotheses predict that PTS will be above zero in intact plants, collapse below a threshold when plants are anesthetized with 4% diethyl-ether, and rebound after the anesthetic is washed out. The protocol tests Mimosa pudica, Arabidopsis thaliana, and Picea abies using multiple probes. Confirmatory results would shift debates on plant sentience from speculation to data; null results would refine what consciousness requires.