ABSTRACT
The epigenetic route to intelligence could still confine the organism to specific circuit arrangements for its adaptive transactions. The imposition of vertebrate biases on invertebrates predisposes thinking that what is an intelligent behavior in the vertebrate must be a useful and desirable capacity in the invertebrate. In invertebrates, there is suspicion of considerable reliance on genetic preprogramming and that epigenesis is restricted to early stages of development. The data indicate that information representing learning can best be expressed in terms of the coherent activity of widely located ensembles rather than in terms of strictly circumscribed loci. Evolutionary divergence may involve the biophysical–biochemical and/or morphological realms. The morphological and physiological differences suggest that the invertebrate and vertebrate very likely use differing substrates and mechanisms in learning. Many parts of the system participate in executing a function but the contributions of various parts are variable.
