- #1
Bio-student
- 21
- 0
OK...I'm not sure how well I'll word this or if it's a coherent idea biologically but I'll throw it out there anyway...
Regarding the evolution of senses - let's take the detection of sour tastes as an example. I know little neuroscience but I know that there's the involvement of H+ ions as the stimulus, GPCRs and some sort of signalling in taste buds, then in the brain there must be perception that the substance is sour and reaction to it (e.g. "don't want to eat too much of this", or whatever the appropriate response to sour is, I don't know).
My question is - will there have been individuals in which only parts of this process evolved (who were obviously not very successful) or did detection, perception and response all kind of evolve in synchrony? I can't imagine there was a single mutation or set of mutations that made an individual lucky enough to suddenly be able to detect, perceive and appropriately respond to senses. But at the same time, I can't imagine thbere were ever organisms running around playing with fire and eating poison and just basically not responding to these danger stimuli
I know this is probably related to the creationist argument for irreducible complexity, but I'd appreciate if someone could explain this because I'm giving myself a headache! haha
EDITED TO ADD I also can't imagine detection (e.g. receptors on the tongue) existing without perception (e.g. being aware that something has been detected)- is that even possible? sorry for the jumble of questions!
Regarding the evolution of senses - let's take the detection of sour tastes as an example. I know little neuroscience but I know that there's the involvement of H+ ions as the stimulus, GPCRs and some sort of signalling in taste buds, then in the brain there must be perception that the substance is sour and reaction to it (e.g. "don't want to eat too much of this", or whatever the appropriate response to sour is, I don't know).
My question is - will there have been individuals in which only parts of this process evolved (who were obviously not very successful) or did detection, perception and response all kind of evolve in synchrony? I can't imagine there was a single mutation or set of mutations that made an individual lucky enough to suddenly be able to detect, perceive and appropriately respond to senses. But at the same time, I can't imagine thbere were ever organisms running around playing with fire and eating poison and just basically not responding to these danger stimuli
I know this is probably related to the creationist argument for irreducible complexity, but I'd appreciate if someone could explain this because I'm giving myself a headache! haha
EDITED TO ADD I also can't imagine detection (e.g. receptors on the tongue) existing without perception (e.g. being aware that something has been detected)- is that even possible? sorry for the jumble of questions!