Are Brains Necessary for Learning, Memory, and Intelligence?

​The Hang Theory. A lecture series by Hang Dallas.

​One speaker. One big idea. One good room.

​Where · 2700 SWISS Event Space.

​Bacteria navigate chemical gradients. Slime molds solve mazes. Plants remember drought. None of these organisms have neurons, yet all exhibit behaviors that look like learning and memory. Dr. Mauricio Papini presents evidence from recent research that challenges the assumption that brains are required for adaptive behavior, drawing on video examples from bacteria, fungi, and plants that demonstrate something resembling intelligence without a nervous system.

​Dr. Papini is Professor of Psychology at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, where he specializes in the comparative neuroscience of learning and emotion. His research tests animals across vertebrate taxa including mammals, birds, and amphibians under conditions involving reward learning and emotional modulation, revealing evolutionary patterns in cognitive versus emotional processing. He is the author of the widely used textbook 'Comparative Psychology: Evolution and Development of Brain and Behavior', now in its third edition.

​How the night goes

​Doors at 6:00 PM. Come early, grab a drink and something to eat, settle in. Mauricio takes the floor at 7:00 PM. Questions from the room near 7:45 PM. Afterward, stay for a glass of wine with Mauricio. The best conversations happen then.