Identifying Consciousness in Other Creatures: Three Initial Steps.
Alejandro Heredia Cedillo, Dennis Lambert, Ezequiel Morsella
Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) April 17, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/bs14040337 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractIdentifying consciousness in other creatures, whether animals or undiscovered exotic beings, is a major scientific challenge. The authors propose three necessary steps: first, define the specific kind of consciousness of interest; second, identify key differences in human brain processes associated with consciousness versus those that are not, using passive frame theory; third, generalize these human insights to other creatures. They emphasize understanding how evolution—a haphazard, tinkering process that can produce suboptimal and counterintuitive adaptations—shaped consciousness. The more that is understood about the differences between conscious and unconscious processing in humans, the easier it will be to identify consciousness elsewhere.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Keywords | Consciousness Encapsulation Evolution Passive frame theory Unconscious processing |
| Key finding | Identifying consciousness in other creatures requires first defining the kind of consciousness, then using passive frame theory to distinguish conscious from unconscious brain processes in humans, and finally generalizing those insights across species. |
Abstract
Identifying consciousness in other creatures, be they animals or exotic creatures that have yet to be discovered, remains a great scientific challenge. We delineate the first three steps that we think are necessary for identifying consciousness in other creatures. Step 1 is to define the particular kind of consciousness in which one is interested. Step 2 is to identify, in humans, the key differences between the brain processes that are associated with consciousness and the brain processes that are not associated with consciousness. For Step 2, to identify these differences, we focus on passive frame theory. Step 3 concerns how the insights derived from consciousness research on humans (e.g., concerning these differences) can be generalized to other creatures. We discuss the significance of examining how consciousness was fashioned by the process of evolution, a process that could be happenstance and replete with incessant tinkering, yielding adaptations that can be suboptimal and counterintuitive, far different in nature from our efficiently designed robotic systems. We conclude that the more that is understood about the differences between conscious processing and unconscious processing in humans, the easier it will be to identify consciousness in other creatures.