Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity
Fungi exhibit oscillations of extracellular electrical potential recorded via differential electrodes inserted into a substrate colonized by mycelium or directly into sporocarps. We analysed electrical activity of ghost fungi (Omphalotus nidiformis), Enoki fungi (Flammulina velutipes), split gill fu...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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The Royal Society
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Royal Society Open Science |
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| Online Access: | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211926 |
| _version_ | 1797837599860064256 |
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| author | Andrew Adamatzky |
| author_facet | Andrew Adamatzky |
| author_sort | Andrew Adamatzky |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Fungi exhibit oscillations of extracellular electrical potential recorded via differential electrodes inserted into a substrate colonized by mycelium or directly into sporocarps. We analysed electrical activity of ghost fungi (Omphalotus nidiformis), Enoki fungi (Flammulina velutipes), split gill fungi (Schizophyllum commune) and caterpillar fungi (Cordyceps militaris). The spiking characteristics are species specific: a spike duration varies from 1 to 21 h and an amplitude from 0.03 to 2.1 mV. We found that spikes are often clustered into trains. Assuming that spikes of electrical activity are used by fungi to communicate and process information in mycelium networks, we group spikes into words and provide a linguistic and information complexity analysis of the fungal spiking activity. We demonstrate that distributions of fungal word lengths match that of human languages. We also construct algorithmic and Liz-Zempel complexity hierarchies of fungal sentences and show that species S. commune generate the most complex sentences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:28:25Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d48599ea953142b693ca3e67e84544c4 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2054-5703 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:28:25Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Society Open Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-d48599ea953142b693ca3e67e84544c42023-04-28T11:05:35ZengThe Royal SocietyRoyal Society Open Science2054-57032022-04-019410.1098/rsos.211926Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activityAndrew Adamatzky0Unconventional Computing Laboratory, UWE, Bristol, UKFungi exhibit oscillations of extracellular electrical potential recorded via differential electrodes inserted into a substrate colonized by mycelium or directly into sporocarps. We analysed electrical activity of ghost fungi (Omphalotus nidiformis), Enoki fungi (Flammulina velutipes), split gill fungi (Schizophyllum commune) and caterpillar fungi (Cordyceps militaris). The spiking characteristics are species specific: a spike duration varies from 1 to 21 h and an amplitude from 0.03 to 2.1 mV. We found that spikes are often clustered into trains. Assuming that spikes of electrical activity are used by fungi to communicate and process information in mycelium networks, we group spikes into words and provide a linguistic and information complexity analysis of the fungal spiking activity. We demonstrate that distributions of fungal word lengths match that of human languages. We also construct algorithmic and Liz-Zempel complexity hierarchies of fungal sentences and show that species S. commune generate the most complex sentences.https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211926fungielectrical activityaction potentiallanguage |
| spellingShingle | Andrew Adamatzky Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity Royal Society Open Science fungi electrical activity action potential language |
| title | Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity |
| title_full | Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity |
| title_fullStr | Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity |
| title_full_unstemmed | Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity |
| title_short | Language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity |
| title_sort | language of fungi derived from their electrical spiking activity |
| topic | fungi electrical activity action potential language |
| url | https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211926 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT andrewadamatzky languageoffungiderivedfromtheirelectricalspikingactivity |