Cognition in Plants

We discuss the possibility and the meaning of the claim that plants are cognitive from the perspective of embodied cognition. In embodied cognition, the notion of cognition can be interpreted in a very broad way and applied to many free-moving creatures. In this chapter, we discuss whether and (if so) how this approach applies to intelligence in plants. Building on work from “plant neurobiology,” we discuss the differences in speed between plants and animals, similarities between sensory-driven plant growth and animal memory, and the presence of offline behavior in plants. In our view, these examples show that under a wide, embodied interpretation of cognition, plants may well qualify as being cognitive.

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