Section 1, Chapter 3, A top-down approach to investigating the evolution of information processing in vertebrates, focusing on locomotion

Process control suggests itself as a reasonable analogy to information processing in vertebrates, focusing on physical action, specifically locomotion. Successful physical action plays a role in feeding, fighting, fleeing, and mating. For vertebrates locomotion involves muscles and limbs.

From the perspective of process control, muscles and limbs are the actuators that are being controlled by a constant flow of information. Without this flow of information, the animal could not move, and certainly could not show the purposive behaviour required for hunting, grazing, fighting, or fleeing.

Process control requires sensors to provide information input. We shall simplify our investigation by focusing on visual input from the eyes.

We can start with two simple questions:

• How are muscles and limbs controlled by incoming information to produce simple actions such as moving forward or turning?
• What kind of outgoing information is produced by eyes, and how is this information processed to guide locomotion such as to chase a potential prey or to avoid an obstacle.

We should also follow up on the questions related to processes in evolution:

• Is there a role for randomization and selection in the within-individual information processing?
• Is there a role for learning, adaptation, and mimicry in the within-individual information processing, and does it involve randomization and selection?

The next question brings us back to our central theme:

• How does language fit into the information processing?

But before we address the above questions, we need to deal with a methodological concern:

• How do we know that our theories and speculations about information processing are correct if we cannot find fossil evidence, evidence from DNA, or even clear evidence from inspections or measurements of within-individual information processing that would allow unambiguous comparisons between species?