Profiles of animal consciousness: A species-sensitive, two-tier account to quality and distribution.

A framework for studying animal consciousness distinguishes two questions: which species are conscious, and how their conscious experiences differ. The two-tier account analyzes consciousness along ten dimensions, using cognitive capacities like learning, reasoning, and abstraction as operational indicators for each dimension. This approach separates strong from weak evidence for consciousness, includes differences in how content is processed, and allows combining evidence across dimensions to create a multi-dimensional consciousness profile for each species. The framework enables systematic comparison of conscious experiences across species.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The science of animal consciousness investigates (i) which animal species are conscious (the distribution question) and (ii) how conscious experience differs in detail between species (the quality question). We propose a framework which clearly distinguishes both questions and tackles both of them. This two-tier account distinguishes consciousness along ten dimensions and suggests cognitive capacities which serve as distinct operationalizations for each dimension. The two-tier account achieves three valuable aims: First, it separates strong and weak indicators of the presence of consciousness. Second, these indicators include not only different specific contents but also differences in the way particular contents are processed (by processes of learning, reasoning or abstraction). Third, evidence of consciousness from each dimension can be combined to derive the distinctive multi-dimensional consciousness profile of various species. Thus, the two-tier account shows how the kind of conscious experience of different species can be systematically compared.