Arthur Reber

University of British Columbia, Psychology, Visiting professor

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Papers by Arthur Reber

The First Minds: Caterpillars, Karyotes, and Consciousness

Cellular and Natural Viral Engineering in Cognition-Based Evolution

Communicative & Integrative Biology

Implicit Learning and Tacit Knowledge

The MIT Press eBooks, 2003

Where We Get Serious: The Cellular Basis of Consciousness

Oxford University Press eBooks, Dec 22, 2018

First, the chapter examines the research methods used in the past to look for the evolutionary or... more First, the chapter examines the research methods used in the past to look for the evolutionary origins of other forms, functions, and behaviors—specifically vision, memory, and affect. We find that searching for the roots in primitive species has been standard operating procedure and wonder why there is a reluctance to do this with consciousness—noting that the category error is the culprit. The formal Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) model is presented, followed by a look at the species under consideration—the prokaryotes and archaea, the simplest of unicellular organisms. An in-depth review of the remarkable lives of these creatures is presented examining the perhaps startling array of functions they carry out, including sensing, perceiving, learning, memory, decision-making, and communication. The lines of criticism that will certainly be used against the CBC are introduced and, as before, prophylactic arguments are presented.

Implicit Learning in Children and Adults With Williams Syndrome

Routledge eBooks, Dec 7, 2018

Symposium 8: Implicit learning: Implicit learning processes involved in the acquisition of sensorimotor skills

PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2003

Tacit Knowledge, Psychology of

Elsevier eBooks, 2001

The term tacit knowledge was first brought into the social scientist's lexicon by the philoso... more The term tacit knowledge was first brought into the social scientist's lexicon by the philosopher Michael Polanyi. Polanyi, who wrote extensively on the role of consciousness in creativity and in the process of doing science, used the term in a manner that extended its standard, nontechnical connotations. Rather than simply having it refer to knowledge that is implied, Polanyi used it to refer to knowledge that was personal, private, and, importantly, knowledge that was not necessarily available for conscious introspection. This last meaning is the one that has had dramatic impact in contemporary psychology—although in many writings tacit has been replaced by the synonymous term implicit. However, no matter which term is used, the notion has become of considerable importance since it is now understood that a good deal of knowledge, as Polanyi suggested, is acquired and held largely independent of awareness. Moreover, the underlying neurological mechanisms that are responsible for acquisition and retention of implicit or tacit knowledge appear to be remarkably robust and to function virtually normally in individuals with several psychological and neurological disorders than compromise conscious, top-down processes.

Consciousness: unicellular organisms know the secret

Nature

A revised central dogma for the 21st century: All biology is cognitive information processing

Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology

Cellular sentience as the primary source of biological order and evolution

Biosystems

The Biomolecular Basis for Plant and Animal Sentience: Senomic and Ephaptic Principles of Cellular Consciousness

Journal of Consciousness Studies, 2021

Cellular and evolutionary perspectives on organismal cognition: from unicellular to multicellular organisms

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2022

In this paper, we follow the evolutionary origins of cells as unicellular organisms and their evo... more In this paper, we follow the evolutionary origins of cells as unicellular organisms and their evolution towards multicellularity, with a focus on plants and animals, both of which have two basic types of organismal self-identities: the immunological and the neuronal. Most cells of the animal immune system and its mesenchymal tissues are amoeba-like without flagella or cilia and form only loose cell–cell contacts. On the other hand, neuronal and epithelial cells are typically ciliated and assemble epithelial or neuronal synapses. In contrast, walled cells of higher plants lack flagella or cilia. However, lower plants up to the gymnosperm tree Ginkgo biloba have flagellated sperm cells. In our symbiotic concept of eukaryogenesis, the first ancient eukaryotic cells emerged from the merger of a large amoeba-like host cell with a small flagellated guest cell which later transformed into the eukaryotic nucleus. This duality at the origin of the eukaryotic cell matches with the duality of ...

Implicit learning and tacit knowledge

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 1989

Event memory in probability learning

Psychonomic science, 1965

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Locating clicks in sentences: Left, center, and right

Attention Perception & Psychophysics, Feb 1, 1973

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Of course crustaceans are sentient: But there's more to the story

Animal Sentience

We are in basic agreement with Crump et al. that animal welfare, particularly with regard to the ... more We are in basic agreement with Crump et al. that animal welfare, particularly with regard to the experience of pain, is a topic of importance. However, we come to the issue from a different perspective, one in which all species are sentient and can feel pain. The implications of this theory are discussed.

format_quoteConsciousness and cognition existed before neurons evolved; neural circuits enhanced pre-existing sentient traits.format_quote

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All living organisms are sentient

Animal Sentience

We argue that all living organisms, from the simplest unicellular prokaryotes to Homo sapiens, ha... more We argue that all living organisms, from the simplest unicellular prokaryotes to Homo sapiens, have valenced experiences-feelings as states of preference-and are capable of cognitive representations. Bacteria can learn, form stable memories, and communicate, hence solve problems. Rowan et al.'s statement that "Subjective feelings are just that-subjectiveand are available only to the animal (or human) experiencing them" is true but irrelevant. When we see a fish flopping about in the bottom of a boat we immediately recognize suffering without having a glimpse of the nature of piscine distress. Some controlled anthropomorphism can go a long way without stumbling into the philosophical "first person" problem. Incumbent on a species with such gifts are countervailing responsibilities.

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Calling Maria’s Bluff

The American Journal of Psychology, 2021

Giving Homeostasis Its Due

The American Journal of Psychology, 2020

Where minds begin: a commentary on Joseph LeDoux’s the deep history of ourselves

Philosophical Psychology

Arthur Reber

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