Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance

Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...

Language and Cognition

Language and Cognition

Language serves as a bridge between ideas and communication, influencing how individuals perceive and interact with the world. Psychologists have long debated whether language shapes thought or vice versa. This discussion gained grip with Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf in the 1940s, who proposed that language determines thought, a concept known as linguistic determinism. They suggested that the vocabulary and structure of a language influence how its speakers think and perceive reality.

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive Therapy

Cognitive therapy, pioneered by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s, is a structured approach to addressing psychological distress by focusing on the influence of thoughts on emotions and behaviors. All cognitive therapies involve the basic assumption that human beings have control over their feelings, and that how individuals feel about something depends on how they think about it. Unlike psychoanalytic methods that delve into unconscious processes or humanistic approaches emphasizing...

Cognition and Behavior

Cognition and Behavior

Social psychology examines the complex interplay between individual mental processes and social interactions. Historically, the field was divided into two domains: social behavior and social cognition. Researchers focusing on social behavior analyzed actions within social contexts, such as conformity, aggression, or cooperation. Meanwhile, social cognition researchers investigated how people perceive, interpret, and mentally represent their social environments. However, modern perspectives no...

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive Learning

Cognitive learning is based on purposive behavior, incidental learning, and insight learning.
E. C. Tolman's theory of purposive behavior emphasizes that much behavior is goal-directed. He argued that to understand behavior, we must look at the entire sequence of actions leading to a goal. For instance, high school students study hard, not just due to past reinforcement but also to achieve the goal of getting into a good college.
Tolman introduced the idea that behavior is influenced by...

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Introduction to Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology is the field of psychology dedicated to examining how people think. It attempts to explain how and why we think the way we do by studying the interactions among human thinking, emotion, creativity, language, and problem-solving, as well as other cognitive processes. Cognitive psychology studies how information is processed and manipulated in remembering, thinking, and knowing.
This field emerged in the mid-20th century, following a period dominated by behaviorism, which...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Frank Shu (1943-2023).

Nature·2023

Same author

Empty names, hallucinations, and semantics.

Frontiers in bioscience (Scholar edition)·2021

Same author

Publisher Correction: A planet within the debris disk around the pre-main-sequence star AU Microscopii.

Nature·2020

Same author

A planet within the debris disk around the pre-main-sequence star AU Microscopii.

Nature·2020

Same journal

The Dynamics of Quantum Gravity: The Missing Piece in the Spacetime Emergentist Account.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

A frame-based approach for reconstructing theories.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

Strategic ignorance, and the management of performative effects: Lessons from climate economics.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

Fictionalism and scientific realism: A response to ungrounded criticism.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

Is Emergy really a theory of value ?

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

Same journal

Echoes of Georgescu-Roegen's thermodynamic view in Latin American development debates.

Studies in history and philosophy of science·2026

See all related articles

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 12, 2026

Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

Published on: December 5, 2025

Cognition wars.

¹Departments of Linguistics & Cognitive Science, Department of Philosophy, University of Delaware, USA.

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

|April 4, 2018

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Cognition may extend beyond animals, with scientific claims suggesting its presence in plants and bacteria. This paper explores the metaphysical basis for cognition in diverse biological systems.

Keywords:

Anthropogenic Ben-Jacob Biogenic Chemotaxis Cognition Embodied Garzon Information Intentionality Keijer Lyon

More Related Videos

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Published on: February 1, 2012

A Machine Learning Approach to Design an Efficient Selective Screening of Mild Cognitive Impairment

A Machine Learning Approach to Design an Efficient Selective Screening of Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published on: January 11, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Feb 12, 2026

Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

Online Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Dorsomedial and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Cognition Decision Making, and Cognitive Dissonance

Published on: December 5, 2025

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Brain Imaging Investigation of the Impairing Effect of Emotion on Cognition

Published on: February 1, 2012

A Machine Learning Approach to Design an Efficient Selective Screening of Mild Cognitive Impairment

A Machine Learning Approach to Design an Efficient Selective Screening of Mild Cognitive Impairment

Published on: January 11, 2020

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Philosophy of Mind
Biology

Background:

The traditional view of cognition is limited to animals.
Emerging theories propose cognition can exist in non-animal biological systems.
This challenges established metaphysical frameworks of cognition.

Purpose of the Study:

To examine the scientific basis for cognition in plants.
To evaluate claims of cognition in bacteria.
To discuss the future of metaphysical theories of cognition.

Main Methods:

Review of scientific literature on plant and bacterial cognition.
Philosophical analysis of metaphysical claims.
Theoretical discussion on the nature of cognition.

Main Results:

Evidence and arguments supporting cognition in plants are presented.
Scientific basis for bacterial cognition is explored.
Competing theories on the metaphysical underpinnings of cognition are evaluated.

Conclusions:

The scope of systems capable of realizing cognition is broader than previously assumed.
Further research is needed to refine metaphysical theories of cognition.
Interdisciplinary approaches are crucial for understanding cognition in diverse life forms.