Direct Evidence of Multiple Realization of Memory in Mollusks

BARBERIS, SERGIO DANIEL

Valparaíso

Workshop; UAH-MCMP Workshop "Multiple Realizability, Causation and Reductive Explanations in Science"; 2018

Universidad Alberto Hurtado - Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy

In The Multiple Realization Book (2016), Thomas Polger and Stewart Shapiro ask: Is there any direct evidence of multiple realization (MR) of psychological states across species?They consider the neurobiological realization of memory in mammals (e.g., mice) and mollusks (i.e. octopuses), and claim that the neural basis of memory in mammals and mollusks is not relevantly different to count as an example of MR.Furthermore, against Ned Block and Jerry Fodor (1972), they argue that convergent evolution has led in this case to the natural selection of similar neural mechanisms in evolutionarily remote species. I revisit the neurobiological research on memory in mollusks and argue that there is compelling evidence that suggests that the same abstract computation is multiple realized in the vertical lobe of octopus and cuttlefish.In addition to this, this evidence implies that convergent evolution may lead to MR even in phylogenetically close species.