Information-Processing Models of Cellular Cognition: A Four-Level Framework from Biochemical Switches to Bioelectric Networks
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866901309532143616 |
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| author | Zaelani |
| author_facet | Zaelani |
| contents | <p>The contemporary debate between Cognition-Based Evolution (CBE) and neo-Darwinian orthodoxy presents a false dichotomy: cells are neither deterministic biochemical machines nor autonomous cognitive agents, but rather systems exhibiting information processing across multiple scales. This paper proposes an information-processing framework that classifies cellular behavior across four quantifiable levels of complexity and memory persistence. We define basal cognition operationally as a system's capacity to acquire environmental information, store representations as internal state variables, and compute context-dependent outputs that maintain homeostatic stability or optimize fitness under thermodynamic constraints. Using phase transition theory as our mathematical foundation, we demonstrate how Level 0 (biochemical switches with no memory) transitions through Level 1 (homeostatic feedback with transient memory), Level 2 (adaptive epigenetic memory with heritable but non-genetic changes), to Level 3 (distributed bioelectric networks with collective information processing). Each transition corresponds to specific mathematical thresholds involving bistability, hysteresis, and network percolation that generate emergent properties. We ground this framework in molecular substrates - chromatin modifications, stress-induced mutagenesis (SIM), and bioelectric syncytia - mapping abstract information-theoretic concepts to concrete biological mechanisms. The model reconciles Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) with molecular biology and explains evolutionary speed through multi-level adaptive processes. We propose three falsifiable experiments: testing bioelectric modulation of SIM in bacteria, memory transfer via gap junctions in planaria, and epigenetic priming as conditional responses to stress. This framework reframes evolution not as random drift passively constrained by environment, but as multi-scale adaptive exploration where organisms actively participate in their own adaptive success through phenotypic plasticity, niche construction, and history-dependent computation.</p> |
| format | Recurso digital |
| id | zenodo_https___doi_org_10_5281_zenodo_18294767 |
| institution | Zenodo |
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| publishDate | 2026 |
| publisher | Zenodo |
| record_format | zenodo |
| spellingShingle | Information-Processing Models of Cellular Cognition: A Four-Level Framework from Biochemical Switches to Bioelectric Networks Zaelani Basal Cognition Bioelectricity Phase Transition Cellular Intelligence Theoretical Biology <p>The contemporary debate between Cognition-Based Evolution (CBE) and neo-Darwinian orthodoxy presents a false dichotomy: cells are neither deterministic biochemical machines nor autonomous cognitive agents, but rather systems exhibiting information processing across multiple scales. This paper proposes an information-processing framework that classifies cellular behavior across four quantifiable levels of complexity and memory persistence. We define basal cognition operationally as a system's capacity to acquire environmental information, store representations as internal state variables, and compute context-dependent outputs that maintain homeostatic stability or optimize fitness under thermodynamic constraints. Using phase transition theory as our mathematical foundation, we demonstrate how Level 0 (biochemical switches with no memory) transitions through Level 1 (homeostatic feedback with transient memory), Level 2 (adaptive epigenetic memory with heritable but non-genetic changes), to Level 3 (distributed bioelectric networks with collective information processing). Each transition corresponds to specific mathematical thresholds involving bistability, hysteresis, and network percolation that generate emergent properties. We ground this framework in molecular substrates - chromatin modifications, stress-induced mutagenesis (SIM), and bioelectric syncytia - mapping abstract information-theoretic concepts to concrete biological mechanisms. The model reconciles Extended Evolutionary Synthesis (EES) with molecular biology and explains evolutionary speed through multi-level adaptive processes. We propose three falsifiable experiments: testing bioelectric modulation of SIM in bacteria, memory transfer via gap junctions in planaria, and epigenetic priming as conditional responses to stress. This framework reframes evolution not as random drift passively constrained by environment, but as multi-scale adaptive exploration where organisms actively participate in their own adaptive success through phenotypic plasticity, niche construction, and history-dependent computation.</p> |
| title | Information-Processing Models of Cellular Cognition: A Four-Level Framework from Biochemical Switches to Bioelectric Networks |
| topic | Basal Cognition Bioelectricity Phase Transition Cellular Intelligence Theoretical Biology |
| url | https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18294767 |