Extending cognition: a vegetal rejoinder to extensionless thought and to extended cognition.

Plants actively extend their cognition when growing new tissues or organs, so their cognitive capacity expands with their body. Growth, biochemical exudates, and moving away from obstacles or stress are building blocks of this extending cognition, which applies to any organism with an open-ended body plan. The theory reframes plant behavior as a form of embodied, extended cognition and suggests new directions for research.

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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a crucial supplement to the framework of plant cognition, namely extending cognition. We argue that plants and other organisms with an open-ended body plan actively extend their cognition when growing tissues or organs. Their cognition expands with their body expansion. After considering the defining features of extending cognition, we present a model where growth, along with aspects of plant physiology (e.g. biochemical exudates), as well as the "negative extension" of growing away from obstacles or stressful environments, are the building blocks for a more refined understanding of plant cognition. We conclude by outlining the general implications of the theory of extending cognition and indicating directions for future research.