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Michael L. Woodruff

2 papers in the library · 6 citations · publishing 2025-2026

Papers

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Sentience in fishes: More on the evidence

Animal Sentience August 3, 2026 Michael L. Woodruff

In my target article, I argued that the brains of ray-finned fishes of the teleost subclass (Actinopterygii) are sufficiently complex to support sentience — that these fishes have subjective awareness of interoceptive and exteroceptive sense experience. Extending previous theories centered on the tectum, I focused on the organization of the fish pallium. In this Response to the commentaries, I...

Tonic immobility and phenomenal consciousness in animals: a review.

Frontiers in Psychology 2025 Michael L. Woodruff 6 citations

Tonic immobility (TI) is an innate, last-resort response to the presence of a predator, commonly referred to as feigning death or thanatosis. However, it is critical to distinguish death feigning from TI; the former encompasses a complex series of behaviors, with TI representing its final aspect. Given this complexity, death feigning is hypothesized to manifest a higher-order intentionality in...