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Epigenetic learning in non-neural organisms

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Abstract

Learning involves a usually adaptive response to an input (an external stimulus or the organism℉s own behaviour) in which the input-response relation is memorized; some physical traces of the relation persist and can later be the basis of a more effective response. Using toy models we show that this characterization applies not only to the paradigmatic case of neural learning, but also to cellular responses that are based on epigenetic mechanisms of cell memory. The models suggest that the research agenda of epigenetics needs to be expanded.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Natural Science Department, The Open University of Israel, POB 808, Raanana, Israel

    Simona Ginsburg

  2. The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, 66978, Israel

    Eva Jablonka

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  1. Simona Ginsburg
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  2. Eva Jablonka
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Correspondence to Simona Ginsburg.

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Ginsburg, S., Jablonka, E. Epigenetic learning in non-neural organisms. J Biosci 34, 633–646 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12038-009-0081-8

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