BioelectricaAlterspan Labs
EJ
born 1952

Eva Jablonka

Eva Jablonka is cited in this literature for work on epigenetic inheritance and on the evolution of learning. With Raz, she is the source for the claim that memory can pass across generations12. With Ginsburg, she is the source for a definition of learning and for stages in the evolution of cognition345.

Born
1 January 1952
Country
Israel
Field
geneticist, university teacher, theorist
In the library
1 work, named in 12 passages elsewhere
Facts from
Wikidata · Wikipedia · Open Library
18501875190019251950197520002025Lyon P, 20151Lyon P, 20152Levin M, 20223Levin M, 20224Reid CR, 20235Neuhof M, Levin M, Rechavi O, 20166Levin M, 20237Fábregas-Tejeda A, Sims M, 20258
01

Epigenetic inheritance

Lyon cites Jablonka and Raz (2009) for the view that experience in one generation can enter the adaptive repertoire of later generations, through DNA methylation and chromatin remodeling1. Lyon also uses it to tie prediction to memory and learning, within a life or across generations2. Neuhof, Levin and Rechavi cite Jablonka and Lamb (2015) on Lamarck's discarded idea that acquired traits pass to progeny, a view they say was long thought entirely incorrect6.

02

Learning and cognition

Ginsburg and Jablonka are cited for a wide sense of learning from experience. Levin takes it to cover cognition well below complex brains3. Reid applies their definition to the slime mould Physarum. Organisms that store and retrieve information and change behaviour for a fitness benefit count as learners, and he begins with habituation5. Levin also cites their list of capacities, from unlimited associative learning to symbol manipulation, as a ramp. He argues that it is continuous, not a binary divide4.

03

Transitions in cognition

Fábregas-Tejeda and Sims cite Ginsburg and Jablonka (2019, 2021) as the detailed treatment of major transitions in cognition8. They contrast it with major transitions in individuality, whose bearing on basal cognition they say has been overlooked.

SourcesEach quotation was checked word for word against the passage it opens.
  1. DNA methylation in general and chromatin remodeling in particular are also the mechanisms by which epigenetic learning takes place in vertebrates and invertebratesLyon P, 2015 · The cognitive cell: bacterial behavior reconsidered · open at passage 73
  2. the ability to predict is predicated on memory and learning, which can take place within the life of an organism or across generations through epigenetic inheritance (Jablonka and Raz, 2009)Lyon P, 2015 · The cognitive cell: bacterial behavior reconsidered · open at passage 69
  3. recognizes many diverse capacities for learning from experience (Ginsburg and Jablonka, 2021), adaptive responsiveness, self-directionLevin M, 2022 · Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere: An Experimentally-Grounded Framework… · open at passage 6
  4. Progressively more complex capabilities [such as unlimited associative learning, counterfactual modeling, symbol manipulation, etc., (Ginsburg and Jablonka, 2021)] ramp upLevin M, 2022 · Technological Approach to Mind Everywhere: An Experimentally-Grounded Framework… · open at passage 26
  5. Many definitions would classify these organisms with the ability to learn (Ginsburg and Jablonka 2009).Reid CR, 2023 · Thoughts from the forest floor: a review of cognition in the slime mould… · open at passage 39
  6. Lamarck's discarded theory of evolution, according to which somatic responses (and acquired traits) are carried over to the progeny, assumed a continuation between the generationsNeuhof M, Levin M, Rechavi O, 2016 · Vertically- and horizontally-transmitted memories - the fading boundaries… · open at passage 2
  7. essentially epigenetic [in the broad, original sense of the word (Ginsburg and Jablonka 2009; Jablonka 2012; Jablonka and Lamb 1995; Jablonka and Raz 2009)] natureLevin M, 2023 · Bioelectric networks: the cognitive glue enabling evolutionary scaling from… · open at passage 37
  8. although the later have been explored in detail (Barron et al., 2023; Ginsburg & Jablonka, 2019, 2021), the implications of the former have gone under the radarFábregas-Tejeda A, Sims M, 2025 · On the prospects of basal cognition research becoming fully evolutionary… · open at passage 54
In the library1 work
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in…Jablonka, E. and M. J. Lamb
2006
Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic…
Jablonka, E. and M. J. Lamb
2006 · described