Relationship between structure and information processing in Physarum polycephalum

Mechatronics often involves connectionist information processing. Many connectionist models of the human nervous system, such as artificial neural networks, have concentrated on the interactions between neurons. Cells in these models are typically represented as simple nodes. However, single-celled organisms have a wide range of responses that allow them to thrive in a demanding environment. Recently, information processing by single-celled organisms has been demonstrated experimentally. An archetypal example of single cell computing is maze traversal by Physarum polycephalum, a giant single-celled organism. Here, we give a preliminary demonstration that information processing in Physarum can be modelled and understood in terms of standard artificial intelligence (such as search, path finding and ant colony optimisation) constructs and known physiological responses.