Consciousness: A Strategy for Behavioral Decisions
Preprints.org October 10, 2022 preprint DOI: 10.20944/preprints202210.0130.v1 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review |
|---|---|
| Citations | 1 |
| Key findings | Argues that consciousness evolved as a sophisticated decision-making strategy, possibly allowing feelings to act as a 'common currency' for evaluating behavioral options, and that while advanced cognition increased its usefulness, consciousness does not appear to be an optimal, fitness-enhancing strategy in biological terms. Proposes a gradual evolutionary model and suggests restricting consciousness to amniotes, though the cutoff is somewhat arbitrary. |
Abstract
Definition: Most multicellular animals have a nervous system that is based on the following three components: 1) Sensory cells gather information and send it to processing units; 2) the processing units use the information to decide on what action to take; and 3) effector neurons activate the appropriate muscles. Due to the importance of making the right decisions, evolution made profound advances in the processing units. I shall review present knowledge regarding the evolution of neurological tools for making decisions, here referred to as strategies or algorithms. Consciousness can be understood as a particularly sophisticated strategy. It may have evolved to allow for the use of feelings as a ‘common currency’ to evaluate behavioral options. The advanced cognitive capacity of species such as humans further improved the usefulness of consciousness, yet in biological terms it does not seem to be an optimal, fitness-enhancing strategy. A model for the gradual evolution of consciousness is presented. There is a somewhat arbitrary cutoff as to which animals have consciousness but based on current information it seems reasonable to restrict the term to amniotes.
Citations in the library
Cites 11
- Neural correlates of consciousness: progress and problems Nature Reviews Neuroscience April 20, 2016
- Dimensions of Animal Consciousness. Trends in Cognitive Sciences August 20, 2020
- Evolution of consciousness: Phylogeny, ontogeny, and emergence from general anesthesia Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 10, 2013
- A neural correlate of sensory consciousness in a corvid bird Science September 25, 2020
- Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis. Neuron March 1, 2020
and 6 more in the library