The central nervous system (CNS) underlies memory, perception, decision-making, and
behavior in numerous organisms. However, neural networks have no monopoly on the …

Each of us made the remarkable journey from mere matter to mind: starting life as a
quiescent oocyte (“just chemistry and physics”), and slowly, gradually, becoming an adult …

The premise of this two-part theme issue is simple: the cognitive sciences should join the
rest of the life sciences in how they approach the quarry within their research domain …

A new theory about the origins of consciousness that finds learning to be the driving force in
the evolutionary transition to basic consciousness. What marked the evolutionary transition …

One of the most salient features of life is its capacity to handle novelty and namely to thrive
and adapt to new circumstances and changes in both the environment and internal …

All epistemic agents physically consist of parts that must somehow comprise an integrated
cognitive self. Biological individuals consist of subunits (organs, cells, and molecular …

A founder of the field of evolutionary medicine uses his decades of experience as a
psychiatrist to provide a much-needed new framework for making sense of mental illness …

The rich variety of biological forms and behaviours results from one evolutionary history on
Earth, via frozen accidents and selection in specific environments. This ubiquitous baggage …

Learning, defined as a change in behaviour evoked by experience, has hitherto been
investigated almost exclusively in multicellular neural organisms. Evidence for learning in …

We advance an account that grounds cognition, specifically decision-making, in an activity
all organisms as autonomous systems must perform to keep themselves viable—controlling …