Do Plants React to Human Voices? Here's the good news: plants do respond to the sound of your voice. In a study conducted by the Royal Horticultural Society, research demonstrated that plants did respond to human voices. In this study, there were 10 tomato plants, 8 of which had headphones placed around their pots.
All in all, plants are simply not complex enough to experience emotions or pain. While plants can detect stimuli, they aren't conscious of them in the same way as humans and other animals.
They conducted all sorts of experiments with plants – playing music, talking to plants, vibrations, etc. But their findings were discredited. Now fast forward nearly 50 years, and it has never been scientifically proven that plants have feelings.
In a study performed by the Royal Horticultural Society, researchers discovered that talking to your plants really can help them grow faster. 1 They also found that plants grow faster to the sound of a female voice than to the sound of a male voice.
Plants generate oxygen needed for human survival, and medicines for healing. Yet in many situations these intimate interactions with plants have become entirely normalized and taken for granted.
Research has shown that plants are complex organisms that can feel, communicate and respond to their environment. In fact, plants can feel emotions too. This might sound surprising, but it is true.
It can be viewed, in fact, as a crucial subcortical portion of the plant brain. For their neural networks to function and demonstrate consciousness, plants use virtually the same neurotransmitters we do, including the two most important: glutamate and GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid).
While flowers and other members of the plant kingdom seem not to complain when we pinch their buds or step on them, they are fully aware of what's happening and rapidly respond to the way they're treated, scientists have discovered.
“Smithsonian and Nasa show that mild vibrations increase growth in plants while harsher, stronger vibrations have a negative effect,” Dr Hes explains. “The vibrations improve communication and photosynthesis, which improves growth and the ability to fight infection. You could say the plants are happy!”
There is no consistent scientific evidence that talking or singing to plants helps them grow better or produce more fruit. Some studies have shown an effect on plants from music or single tones, some haven't. These studies are rarely done in the same way, making them difficult to compare, so there is no consensus yet.
A new study out of the La Trobe Institute for Agriculture and Food has found that most plants are extremely sensitive to touch, and even a light touch can significantly stunt their growth, reports Phys.org.
Recent studies show that touching plants alters their genome, reducing their growth by upwards of 30%. It's crucial to avoid unnecessary contact as much as possible to prevent your plant from getting stressed.
However, this “vegetal” soul is different from human souls. Religions like Catholic Christianism also consider plants to have a soul, but in a similar way as Aristotle: the soul is inferior to human souls, and the plant's purpose is to nourish and give life to other living beings.
As explained by plant biologist Dr. Elizabeth Van Volkenburgh, all living organisms perceive and respond to painful touch, but plants do not perceive or “feel” pain the same way that animals do because they lack a nervous system and brain.
We humans have an innate affinity with nature, known as biophilia, meaning our brains evolved in nature so when we're surrounded by nature, the fight or flight and emotional parts of the brain are less on edge. If these bits are less stressed, the rest of our brain is free to work better.
Do Plants Have Feelings (Or Emotions)? No – unlike humans and non-human animals, plants do not have feelings. It is undeniable that a plant can respond to environmental stimuli, like turning towards the light or closing over a fly.
Plants respond to the vibrations of nearby sound which turns on two key genes inside of them that influence their growth. Plants also increase photosynthesis production in response to carbon dioxide, which is a by-product of human speech.
Plant lovers around the world and even some major retailers and corporations have done studies to find if negative speech can hurt your plant. It has been proven that the words you speak to your plant directly impact the life your plant will lead.
sensitive plant, (Mimosa pudica), also called humble plant, plant in the pea family (Fabaceae) that responds to touch and other stimulation by rapidly closing its leaves and drooping.
Plants have many surprising qualities, some of which have led scientists to consider whether plants have feelings or possess some degree of intelligence. While no one claims that plants “feel” emotions, as humans do, plants do show signs of “sensing” their surroundings.
It is this ability to outwit other life forms that makes orchids what Whigham calls the smartest plants in the world. Some orchids have adapted their flowers to look like insects—which fools bugs into trying to mate with them. Other orchids spread their pollen by exuding a perfume of rotting meat, which attracts flies.
Both animals and plants are aware, and given the relation between awareness and consciousness, plants can be described as conscious organisms.
Like humans, plants have memories too, although they do it differently. For example, many plants sense and remember prolonged cold during winter to ensure that they flower in spring.