Dimensions of Animal Consciousness.
Jonathan Birch, Alexandra K. Schnell, Nicola S. Clayton
Trends Cogn Sci August 20, 2020 DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2020.07.007 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 394 |
| Key points | Proposes a multidimensional framework for understanding interspecies variation in consciousness, distinguishing five key dimensions rather than a single scale of consciousness. |
Abstract
How does consciousness vary across the animal kingdom? Are some animals 'more conscious' than others? This article presents a multidimensional framework for understanding interspecies variation in states of consciousness. The framework distinguishes five key dimensions of variation: perceptual richness, evaluative richness, integration at a time, integration across time, and self-consciousness. For each dimension, existing experiments that bear on it are reviewed and future experiments are suggested. By assessing a given species against each dimension, we can construct a consciousness profile for that species. On this framework, there is no single scale along which species can be ranked as more or less conscious. Rather, each species has its own distinctive consciousness profile.