Plants do not possess brains or neurons. However, they present astonishingly complex behaviors such as information acquisition, memory, learning, decision making, etc., which helps these sessile organisms deal with their ever-changing environments. As a consequence, they have been proposed to be cognitive and intelligent, an idea which is becoming increasingly accepted. However, how plant cognition could operate without a nervous central system remains poorly understood and new insights on this topic are urgently needed. According to the Extended Cognition hypothesis, cognition may also occur beyond the limits of the body, encompassing objects from the environment. This was shown possible in humans and spiders, who actively manipulate their external environment to extend their cognitive capacity. Here, we propose that extended cognition may also be found in plants and could partly explain the complexity of plant behavior. We suggest that plants can extend their cognitive abilities to the environment they manipulate through the root influence zone and the mycorrhizal fungi that associate with them. The possibility of a cognitive process involving organisms from different kingdoms is exciting and worthwhile exploring as it may provide key insights into the origin and evolution of cognition.

In our study, we investigated some physiological and ecological aspects of the life of Cuscuta racemosa Mart. (Convolvulaceae) plants with the hypothesis that they recognise different hosts at a distance from them, and they change their survival strategy depending on what they detect. We also hypothesised that, as an attempt of prolonging their survival through photosynthesis, the synthesis of chlorophylls (a phenomenon not completely explained in these parasitic plants) would be increased if the plants don’t detect a host. We quantified the pigments related to photosynthesis in different treatments and employed techniques such as electrophysiological time series recording, analyses of the complexity of the obtained signals, and machine learning classification to test our hypotheses. The results demonstrate that the absence of a host increases the amounts of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and β-carotene in these plants, and the content varied depending on the host presented. Besides, the electrical signalling of dodders changes according to the species of host perceived in patterns detectable by machine learning techniques, suggesting that they recognise from a distance different host species. Our results indicate that electrical signalling might underpin important processes such as foraging in plants. Finally, we found evidence for a likely process of attention in the dodders toward the host plants. This is probably to be the first empirical evidence for attention in plants and has important implications on plant cognition studies.

The electrical activity of tomato plants subjected to fruit herbivory was investigated. The study aimed to test the hypothesis that tomato fruits transmit long-distance electrical signals to the shoot when subjected to herbivory. For such, time series classification by machine learning techniques and analyses related to the oxidative response were employed. Tomato plants (cv. “Micro-Tom”) were placed into a Faraday's cage and an electrode pair was inserted in the fruit's peduncle. Helicoverpa armigera caterpillars were placed on the fruit (either green and ripe) for 24 h. The time series were recorded before and after the fruit's exposure of the caterpillars. The plant material for chemical analyses was collected 24 and 48 h after the end of the acquisition of electrophysiological data. The time series were analyzed by the following techniques: Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Wavelet Transform, Power Spectral Density (PSD), and Approximate Entropy. The following features from FFT, PSD, and Wavelet Transform were used for PCA (Principal Component Analysis): average, maximum and minimum value, variance, skewness, and kurtosis. Additionally, these features were used in Machine Learning (ML) analyses for looking for classifiable patterns between tomato plants before and after fruit herbivory. Also, we compared the electrome before and after herbivory in the green and ripe fruits. To evaluate an oxidative response in different organs, hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anion, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, guaiacol peroxidase, and superoxide dismutase activity were evaluated in fruit and leaves. The results show with 90% of accuracy that the electrome registered in the fruit's peduncle before herbivory is different from the electrome during predation on the fruits. Interestingly, there was also a sharp difference in the electrome of the green and ripe fruits' peduncles before, but not during, the herbivory, which demonstrates that the signals generated by the herbivory stand over the others. Biochemical analysis showed that herbivory in the fruit triggered an oxidative response in other parts of the plant. Here, we demonstrate that the fruit perceives biotic stimuli and transmits electrical signals to the shoot of tomato plants. This study raises new possibilities for studies involving electrical signals in signaling and systemic response, as well as for the applicability of ML to classify electrophysiological data and its use in early diagnosis.

To survive in a dynamic environment growing fixed to the ground, plants have developed mechanisms for monitoring and perceiving the environment. When a stimulus is perceived, a series of signals are induced and can propagate away from the stimulated site. Three distinct types of systemic signaling exist, i.e., (i) electrical, (ii) hydraulic, and (iii) chemical, which differ not only in their nature but also in their propagation speed. Naturally, plants suffer influences from two or more stimuli (biotic and/or abiotic). Stimuli combination can promote the activation of new signaling mechanisms that are explicitly activated, as well as the emergence of a new response. This study evaluated the behavior of electrical (electrome) and hydraulic signals after applying simple and combined stimuli in common bean plants. We used simple and mixed stimuli applications to identify biochemical responses and extract information from the electrical and hydraulic patterns. Time series analysis, comparing the conditions before and after the stimuli and the oxidative responses at local and systemic levels, detected changes in electrome and hydraulic signal profiles. Changes in electrome are different between types of stimulation, including their combination, and systemic changes in hydraulic and oxidative dynamics accompany these electrical signals.