Plant awareness in the hand

The human inability to notice plants and recognise their importance on Earth has been termed “plant blindness”. Among the main reasons (e.g., cultural and biological factors) underlying this phenomenon, the lack of visible movement of plants seems to be the main factor that makes plants less prominent to the human eye. Here, we tested the idea that observing plants moving on our time scale might change the way we attend to them. We combined single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and motor-evoked potential (MEP) recordings to assess the activation of observers' motor system during the observation of an action performed by either a pea plant or a human when approaching and grasping a pole. Control conditions involving a stationary hand or pea plant, a hand or pea plant rotating along their axes, and a hand grasping the pole in the style of a plant were also considered. The participants’ sensitivity to the role and importance of plants for human life and other living organisms was assessed by means of an ad-hoc questionnaire. The results showed a specific effect of motor facilitation relative to baseline values when observing plants rotating and grasping, but not for plants standing still. Higher levels of motor activation may indicate a greater degree of effort in interpreting the observed action, when it is perceived as unfamiliar by the observer. An effort that can be reduced through awareness and knowledge of the role and importance of the green kingdom for life on Earth. Notably, people more sensitive to plants showed similar levels of motor activation when observing both plant and human actions.