Insects have the capacity for subjective experience
January 1, 2016 C. Klein, A. Barron
The capacity for subjective experience—basic awareness of the world without reflection—is supported by integrated midbrain and basal ganglia structures, which are among the oldest and most conserved brain systems in vertebrates. This suggests that subjective experience is widespread and evolutionarily old within the vertebrate lineage. The insect brain supports functions analogous to the vertebrate midbrain, so insects may also have a capacity for subjective experience. The authors discuss which neural features can and cannot support this capacity and relate their neurobiological arguments to the 'hard problem' of consciousness.