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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Yes—in a specific, measurable sense. Experiments with the slime mould Physarum polycephalum report habituation: after repeated exposure to an initially aversive stimulus, the organism’s avoidance response declines. That is evidence of a basic form of learning, not evidence that slime moulds think, reason, or remember like humans.
What does “learning” mean in slime mould experiments?
Physarum polycephalum is an acellular slime mould: its active body is a large, branching cell without a brain or nervous system. In the experiments discussed here, researchers operationalize learning by measuring how its behavior changes after experience. The clearest result is habituation, a non-associative form of learning in which repeated exposure to a stimulus that initially prompts avoidance leads to a weaker response.
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This definition matters. A change in behavior does not by itself show awareness or deliberate choice. The studies support a claim about how the organism responds under particular conditions.
How do researchers test habituation?
Repeated exposure, recovery, and stimulus specificity
A 2016 study exposed plasmodia repeatedly to quinine or caffeine, treated as repellents, and measured chemotactic behavior. Avoidance declined with repeated exposure. Responsiveness returned after the stimulus was withheld for a period, a pattern called spontaneous recovery. The researchers also reported stimulus specificity: the declining response was tied to the stimulus encountered rather than a general inability to move toward or away from cues. Together, response decline, recovery, and specificity help distinguish habituation from sensory adaptation or simple motor fatigue. Read the 2016 study.
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The authors describe their evidence this way: “Our results meet the principle criteria that have been used to demonstrate habituation: responsiveness decline and spontaneous recovery.”
Persistence through dormancy
A 2019 sodium-exposure study tested whether habituation remained observable after the organisms entered a dormant state called a sclerotium. The authors reported that the effect persisted through one month of dormancy, the interval they tested; this is not evidence that one month is the maximum duration. Chemical analysis found sodium uptake during habituation and retention through dormancy. The study also reported habituation after two hours of constrained sodium absorption. Read the 2019 study.
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The authors proposed that absorbed sodium could act as a “circulating memory.” That is an explanation they offered for these results, not an established general mechanism for learning or memory in slime moulds.
Does age change habituation?
A 2023 study compared groups of different ages, including 12-week and 74-week organisms in a habituation test. Following repeated exposure to sodium chloride (NaCl), trained organisms showed little aversion compared with controls encountering the stimulus for the first time. The study detected no age effect on learning performance under its protocol. This finding does not establish that age has no effect for every stimulus, age group, or kind of learning. Read the 2023 age study.
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Do slime moulds really solve mazes?
Slime moulds can form efficient routes through maze-like environments, but a successful route alone does not prove learning or memory. Growth, chemical gradients, and local feedback can produce efficient paths without showing that the organism remembers a route or plans ahead.
A 2026 spatial-alternation paper reported a significant alternation result in its short-distance maze condition, but not in its medium- or long-distance conditions after correction for multiple testing. Its abstract says further work is needed to determine whether the observed pattern reflects memory or maze topography. This is a task-specific result, not settled proof of spatial memory. Read the spatial-alternation study.
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A separate 2023 paper examines learning in a five-level Y-maze and the effect of propofol. It is a distinct experimental strand; its indexed information does not justify treating it as confirmation of every claim about slime mould memory. View the 2023 Y-maze study record.
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What the experiments establish—and what they do not
- Supported: Repeated exposure to certain aversive stimuli can reduce P. polycephalum’s avoidance response, consistent with habituation.
- Useful evidence controls: Spontaneous recovery and stimulus specificity help distinguish habituation from adaptation or fatigue.
- Limited persistence finding: One sodium study observed habituation after a tested one-month dormant interval and proposed retained sodium as a possible mechanism.
- Not established: The results do not show human-like consciousness, reasoning, or memory, and maze performance by itself is not proof of learning.
When evaluating a new claim about slime mould learning, look for the stimulus and repetition schedule, the response measured, tests for recovery or stimulus specificity, the duration of any effect, and a clear separation between observed behavior and a proposed mechanism.
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