Can someone address the question about the lowest levels at which we see learning? I can think of several ways to phrase the question: 1) Intact organisms: What is the dividing line in intact organisms for learning? Any single cell organisms? Flatworms? 2) Physiological requirements: What physiological requirements are necessary for learning? We know about cellular-level changes in aplysia. Do we know the one in flatworms? What are the sufficient physiological conditions for learning? 3) Machine learning: what are the simplest logical conditions for learning? Neural nets seems to require the least complexity for get some learning. How simple can they be? Many thanks. -Chuck PS: I was led to these question by the presentations of a bio-physicist at our neuroscience conference here last spring. He showed patterns of membrane electrical activity in muscle cells that was very similar to nerve activity. So now we know that nerve cells are not the only cells that can send electrical impulses. Most of his work suggested these impulses (stimulated by physical distortion) acted as part of a sensory system.
