{"title":"On growth and form of animal behavior.","authors":"Ilan Golani, Neri Kafkafi","doi":"10.3389/fnint.2024.1476233","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In this study we propose an architecture (<i>bauplan</i>) for the growth and form of behavior in vertebrates and arthropods. We show in what sense behavior is an extension of anatomy. Then we show that movement-based behavior shares linearity and modularity with the skeletal body plan, and with the Hox genes; that it mirrors the geometry of the physical environment; and that it reveals the animal's understanding of the animate and physical situation, with implications for perception, attention, emotion, and primordial cognition. First we define the primitives of movement in relational terms, as in comparative anatomy, yielding homological primitives. Then we define modules, generative rules and the architectural plan of behavior in terms of these primitives. In this way we expose the homology of behaviors, and establish a rigorous trans-phyletic comparative discipline of the morphogenesis of movement-based behavior. In morphogenesis, behavior builds up and narrows incessantly according to strict geometric rules. The same rules apply in moment-to-moment behavior, in ontogenesis, and partly also in phylogenesis. We demonstrate these rules in development, in neurological recovery, with drugs (dopamine-stimulated striatal modulation), in stressful situations, in locomotor behavior, and partly also in human pathology. The buildup of movement culminates in free, undistracted, exuberant behavior. It is observed in play, in superior animals during agonistic interactions, and in humans in higher states of functioning. Geometrization promotes the study of genetics, anatomy, and behavior within one and the same discipline. The geometrical <i>bauplan</i> portrays both already evolved dimensions, and prospective dimensional constraints on evolutionary behavioral innovations.</p>","PeriodicalId":56016,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience","volume":"18 ","pages":"1476233"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-02-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11832518/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2024.1476233","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
In this study we propose an architecture (bauplan) for the growth and form of behavior in vertebrates and arthropods. We show in what sense behavior is an extension of anatomy. Then we show that movement-based behavior shares linearity and modularity with the skeletal body plan, and with the Hox genes; that it mirrors the geometry of the physical environment; and that it reveals the animal's understanding of the animate and physical situation, with implications for perception, attention, emotion, and primordial cognition. First we define the primitives of movement in relational terms, as in comparative anatomy, yielding homological primitives. Then we define modules, generative rules and the architectural plan of behavior in terms of these primitives. In this way we expose the homology of behaviors, and establish a rigorous trans-phyletic comparative discipline of the morphogenesis of movement-based behavior. In morphogenesis, behavior builds up and narrows incessantly according to strict geometric rules. The same rules apply in moment-to-moment behavior, in ontogenesis, and partly also in phylogenesis. We demonstrate these rules in development, in neurological recovery, with drugs (dopamine-stimulated striatal modulation), in stressful situations, in locomotor behavior, and partly also in human pathology. The buildup of movement culminates in free, undistracted, exuberant behavior. It is observed in play, in superior animals during agonistic interactions, and in humans in higher states of functioning. Geometrization promotes the study of genetics, anatomy, and behavior within one and the same discipline. The geometrical bauplan portrays both already evolved dimensions, and prospective dimensional constraints on evolutionary behavioral innovations.
期刊介绍:
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research that synthesizes multiple facets of brain structure and function, to better understand how multiple diverse functions are integrated to produce complex behaviors. Led by an outstanding Editorial Board of international experts, this multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide.
Our goal is to publish research related to furthering the understanding of the integrative mechanisms underlying brain functioning across one or more interacting levels of neural organization. In most real life experiences, sensory inputs from several modalities converge and interact in a manner that influences perception and actions generating purposeful and social behaviors. The journal is therefore focused on the primary questions of how multiple sensory, cognitive and emotional processes merge to produce coordinated complex behavior. It is questions such as this that cannot be answered at a single level – an ion channel, a neuron or a synapse – that we wish to focus on. In Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience we welcome in vitro or in vivo investigations across the molecular, cellular, and systems and behavioral level. Research in any species and at any stage of development and aging that are focused at understanding integration mechanisms underlying emergent properties of the brain and behavior are welcome.