It remains a standing problem how and why the first nervous systems evolved. Molecular and genomic information is now rapidly accumulating but the macroscopic organization and functioning of early nervous systems remains unclear. To explore potential evolutionary options, a coordination centered view is discussed that diverges from a standard input–output view on early nervous systems. The scenario involved, the skin brain thesis (SBT), stresses the need to coordinate muscle-based motility at a very early stage. This paper addresses how this scenario with its focus on coordination also deals with sensory aspects. It will be argued that the neural structure required to coordinate extensive sheets of contractile tissue for motility provides the starting point for a new multicellular organized form of sensing. Moving a body by muscle contraction provides the basis for a multicellular organization that is sensitive to external surface structure at the scale of the animal body. Instead of thinking about early nervous systems as being connected to the environment merely through input and output, the implication developed here is that early nervous systems provide the foundation for a highly specific animal sensorimotor organization in which neural activity directly reflects bodily and environmental spatiotemporal structure. While the SBT diverges from the input–output view, it is closely linked to and supported by ongoing work on embodied approaches to intelligence to which it adds a new interpretation of animal embodiment and sensorimotor organization.

中文翻译：

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没有输入和输出的运动和感知：早期神经系统和动物感觉运动组织的起源

第一个神经系统如何以及为何进化仍然是一个长期存在的问题。分子和基因组信息现在正在迅速积累，但早期神经系统的宏观组织和功能仍不清楚。为了探索潜在的进化选择，讨论了一种以协调为中心的观点，它不同于早期神经系统的标准输入-输出观点。所涉及的场景，皮肤大脑论文 (SBT)，强调需要在很早的阶段协调基于肌肉的运动。本文讨论了这种侧重于协调的场景如何处理感官方面。需要争论的是，协调大量收缩组织以实现运动所需的神经结构为新的多细胞有组织的传感形式提供了起点。通过肌肉收缩移动身体为多细胞组织提供了基础，该组织对动物身体尺度的外表面结构敏感。与其将早期神经系统视为仅通过输入和输出与环境相连，这里提出的含义是，早期神经系统为高度特异性的动物感觉运动组织提供了基础，其中神经活动直接反映了身体和环境的时空结构。虽然 SBT 与输入-输出观点不同，但它与正在进行的关于智能的具身方法的工作密切相关并得到其支持，它增加了对动物具身和感觉运动组织的新解释。