At the ‘roots’ of motor intentions

Introduction

Research in cognitive science has revealed that intentions become visible in the surface flow of agents' motion. An example is that humans adopt different kinematics when reaching for an object to either displace it (i.e., individual intentions) or interact with a partner (i.e., social intentions). This phenomenon has been shown in humans and other animal species, but no studies have investigated whether it extends to the green kingdom.

Project Overview

ROOMors aims at investigating for the first time motor intentions in plants. It capitalizes on recent findings of my research group that make this a timely and tractable issue. By focusing on the kinematic signatures characterizing the movement of climbing plants, we observed that:

1. Plants can program their movement in advance.
2. They move the tendrils according to the specific characteristics of the to-be-grasped support.

This result reverts the general consensus that plant movement is only driven by cause-effect mechanisms and hard-wired reflexes. It gives rise to a number of questions that only a few years ago might have been considered absurd:

• To what extent can plants intentionally plan a movement?
• Is plant movement fine-tuned according to the motor intentions exhibited by the surrounding plants?

Research Methodology

ROOMors will answer these questions by blending experimental psychology techniques to study intentional actions (i.e., kinematics) with plant physio-molecular approaches to identify the (mostly unknown) signaling pathways at the basis of the implementation and the decoding of motor intentions by plants.

Implications

ROOMors will open a new path in psychological research that is more than about scientific discovery; it is about a revolution that will compel us to see the green kingdom through a completely new lens. So open your mind, set aside your biases, and be prepared to welcome plants into the domain of comparative psychology for going at the roots of intentions.