On the role of stigmergy in cognition

Abstract

Cognition in animals is produced by the self- organized activity of mutually entrained body and brain. Given that stigmergy plays a major role in self-organization of societies, we identify stigmergic behavior in cognitive systems, as a common mechanism ranging from brain activity to social systems. We analyze natural societies and artificial systems exploiting stigmergy to produce cognition. Several authors have identified the importance of stigmergy in the behavior and cognition of social systems. However, the perspective of stigmergy playing a central role in brain activity is novel, to the best of our knowledge. We present several evidences of such processes in the brain and discuss their importance in the formation of cognition. With this we try to motivate further research on stigmergy as a relevant component for intelligent systems.