Genesis and evolution of investigative behavior

Abstract

Investigative behavior takes priority of any behavioral act. It is a main form of adaptive behavior which develops in response to any novel property of environment. Investigative behavior is found in every living creature with nervous system. But do their evolutionary predecessors, unicellular organisms, demonstrate this form of behavior? The actual material collected in previous studies leads to the following assumption: unicellular eukaryote demonstrate investigative behavior which modifies their subsequent activity. The behavior of unicellular Paramecium caudatum after emergence of novel properties in surrounding space was studied in out experiments. In electrophysiological experiments intracellular indices of the development of nervous model of the stimulus under repeated electric stimulation was registered (habituation).