“From the memories of
flowers to the sociability of trees, the cognitive abilities of our vegetal
cousins are all around us”
By: Laura Ruggles
Published: Aeon, https://aeon.co/essays/beyond-the-animal-brain-plants-have-cognitive-capacities-too
Level of Difficulty:
***
WATCH AND TAKE NOTES
QUESTIONS
1.
What surprising fact is revealed concerning the
Cornish Mallow?
2.
What widely accepted fact seems to stand in the
way of the view that “plants can learn from memories”?
3.
Read the accounts of the amazing capabilities of
certain plants. What conclusion can be drawn from these examples?
4.
Read the example of the thaliana. According to
the text, vernalisation seems to be
governed by a genetic process / a chemical process / a physical process / an
experimental process.
5.
What surprising piece of information is provided
concerning chromatin remodeling?
6.
Read the paragraph beginning “Both…”. A change
in word order in one section of this paragraph would make better sense. State
clearly what this correction is.
7.
Who would sleep better, a person living close to
a motorway or a person living near a railway line?
8.
Read the paragraph beginning “But”. What
conclusion can be drawn from the 2016 experiment?
9.
The systematic bias against non-humans including
both animals and to a larger extent plants can be linked to…
10.
Read the three paragraph explanation of the
reasons for zoochauvanism. Which sentence in these three paragraphs best
expresses the main idea? Where else in the section could it be placed?
11.
We understand from the text that habituation is
not considered a cognitive mechanism whereas trading in representations is.
This is due to the fact that…
12.
Read the paragraph beginning “On the other hand…”
and the three paragraphs that follow. What essay type is the structure of this
section closest to?
13.
Read the account of Fransisco Calvo Garzon’s
views. Does the argument the writer puts forward concerning the cognitive power
of plants tie in with Garzon’s views or not?
14.
Read the last section of the text. Which of the
following would be wrong according to this section? How would you correct it?
·
We need to be more open minded
·
We need to be more objective
·
We need to be more aware of grey areas
·
We need to define concepts such as memory,
learning and thought
WRITING TASK
Use all the information you have gleaned to write an essay
in which you discuss to what extent you think that plants actually think.
Determine your position and justify it.
THE MINDS OF PLANTS
This insightful text
challenges widely held beliefs concerning plants by showing what amazing feets
they are capable of. Because it overturns so many so called ‘truisms’ it should
have a wow factor despite its length. The writing task will hopefully give
students a chance to put forward their own views.
1.
It seems to remember when and where the Sun has
come up on previous days (and…)
2.
Memory requires a brain and plants lack even the
most rudimentary nervous system
3.
Plants can sense and integrate information about
dozens of different environmental variables and they use this knowledge to
guide flexible, adaptive behavior.
4.
A chemical process
5.
Later produced cells remember past winters
6.
The sentence beginning “Perhaps” should read “Perhaps
the interesting question isn’t really
whether or not cognition is needed for memories but…”
7.
A motorway; you will get used to the noise and
perhaps not even notice after a while but you’ll probably startle at the sound
of a train)
8.
Evidence is mounting that plants share some of
the treasured learning capacities of animals.
9.
Aristotle’s influential notion of the scala
naturae
10.
It seems that, when we are deciding whether to
interpret behavior as intelligent, we rely on anthropomorphic prototypes / After the sentence beginning “Today”
11.
Unless it can operate offline a state or
mechanism is not genuinely cognitive
12.
Argumentative
13.
It does; Garzon said nothing about plants; he
just defined cognition
14.
The last / We need to refine…
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