The Phanerozoic aftermath of the Cambrian information revolution: sensory and cognitive complexity in marine faunas
Open accessAbstract
The Cambrian information revolution describes how biotically driven increases in signals, sensory abilities, behavioral interactions, and landscape spatial complexity drove a rapid increase in animal cognition concurrent with the Cambrian radiation. Here, we compare cognitive complexity in Cambrian and post-Cambrian marine ecosystems, documenting changes in animal cognition after the initial Cambrian increase. In a comparison of Cambrian and post-Cambrian Lagerstätten, we find no strong trend in the proportion of genera possessing two types of macroscopic sense organs (eyes and chemoreceptive organs such as antennae, feelers, or nostrils). There is also no trend in general nervous system complexity. These results suggest that sophisticated information processing was already common in early Phanerozoic ecosystems, comparable with behavioral evidence from the trace fossil record. Most taxa capable of complex information processing in Cambrian ecosystems were panarthropods, whereas mollusks and chordates made up larger proportions afterward. In both the Cambrian and the present day, ecological occupation of diverse habitat tiers and feeding modes is possible with even simple nervous systems, but ecological lifestyles requiring rapid, regular movement are almost exclusively associated within brain-bearing taxa, suggesting a connection with fast information-processing abilities and bodily responses. The overall rise in cognitive sophistication in the Cambrian was likely a unique event in the history of life, although some lineages subsequently developed more elaborate sensory systems and/or larger brains.
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Muscles first emerged at the Cambrian explosion, allowing for faster and more vigorous movement, including larger organisms.
“Along with many other physical and physiological innovations, muscles first emerged at this time, allowing for faster and more vigorous movement, including larger organisms [8,9].”
From The social origins of consciousness (2025) · cites this paper as [8]
The Introduction says macroscopic animals increased in size during the Cambrian, and the Conclusion says fast-moving life modes were present then. Neither passage says muscles first emerged in the Cambrian or that muscles enabled faster movement or larger organisms. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.83)
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The monoaminergic system is a bilaterian innovation
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The social origins of consciousness
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- Authors
- Hsieh, S., Plotnick, R. E., & Bush, A. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Chicago (US)
- University of Connecticut (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hsieh, Shannon
- Venue
- Paleobiology
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2022-01-28
- Volume
- 48
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 397-419
- ISSN
- 0094-8373 (ISSN-L)
- 1938-5331
- OpenAlex
- W4210422933
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 162
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Paleobiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Johns Hopkins University
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Keywords
- Cambrian explosion, animal cognition, eye, chemoreception, brain evolution, panarthropods, Mollusca, Chordata, trace fossils, Phanerozoic evolution, marine invertebrates
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