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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 20: Poster IIIa

BP 20.5: Poster

Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 11:00–14:30, Poster B

Learning in slime molds? — Adrian Büchl, •Lisa Schick, and Karen Alim — School of Natural Sciences, Technical University of Munich, Germany

Learning and adapting to changing environments is crucial for the survival for living organisms. Generally, learning involves the formation of memory by gathering and storing information and applying this memory in novel contexts. In neuronal organisms, learning can be directly mapped to adaptations in the neuronal network. However, information processing and memory formation can also be found in non-neuronal organisms like slime molds that lack a central nervous system. The slime mold Physarum polycephalum is well known for its network adaption processes as a response to environmental cues. Can we consider this complex behavior learning? Using bright-field microscopy observations, we investigate how P. polycephalum networks react to repetitive negative blue light stimuli. We observe migratory behavior persisting much longer than network adaptation, and by this, establish memory of environmental stimuli in the slime molds migration dynamics. By looking at flow patterns and response times to different stimuli, we set out to unravel if learning exists in organisms without a nervous systems.

Keywords: Learning; Persistence; Network adaptation; Fluid dynamics; Slime mold