What Animal Behavior Studies Tell Us About Consciousness in Animals

This essay delves into the field of animal behavior and cognition, investigating what studies reveal about the existence and nature of consciousness in non-human animals. It explores behavioral measures of emotion, including cognitive biases and the challenges of measuring emotional states in animals. The essay examines the role of judgment bias, self-directed behavior, and cognitive measures in understanding animal consciousness. It highlights research on various species, discussing the limitations of current studies and the importance of self-awareness in interpreting animal behavior. The analysis covers cognitive capabilities, such as spatial memory and the ability to assess quantities, and the role of emotions in decision-making. It also discusses methodologies for measuring affective states in animals, emphasizing the significance of understanding animal behavior for welfare and scientific research.

WHAT CAN STUDIES OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOR
AND COGNITION TELL US ABOUT THE
EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
IN NON-HUMAN ANIMALS?

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................4
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................5

INTRODUCTION
Animal science is a leading concept which is developing high and significant interest in
the discipline. Cognitive scientists and biologists are working to understand how the minds and
brains of animals work, how they evolved, and what they can tell us about the human mind and
brain. High interest to analyse animal behaviour and emotions is now developing within people
in order to create deep understanding of animal behaviour (McCall and Singer, 2012). The
present study will evaluate and understand the cognitive components of emotions for animals. In
the report an attempt is made to identify the aspects of research subject that yet not explored
deeply in science to obtain better result (Broom and Fraser, 2015). In addition to this, critical
evaluation of behavioral theories will be done in the report. In this way entire research work will
be carried out.
MAIN BODY
Behavioral measures of emotion
Human experiences various emotional situations and emotions which demonstrates
cognitive affecting biases that are also termed as cognitive bias. For instance, in human, it is
often seen that they tends to make negative decisions and judgments towards a given situation or
stimuli when they are in a negative state. Similarly, in various studies, it has been evidenced that
animals have distinctive emotional feelings which show contrast bias in relation to the
judgmental decisions. Identifying conscious emotional experiences in human is a subjective
aspect, but it is inaccessible to measure the emotional state of non-human animals. Hence,
measuring physiological and behavioral changes are only the way to monitor emotional state of
animal.
The deep understanding of emotions of animals is important to comprehend their mental
and psychological aspect. As per the analysis the behavioural aspects of subjective experiences
can be analysed through language emotions. According to Virga (2005), stimuli, situation, events
plays an important role in measuring emotional valence of the animals and its influence over the
cognitive functioning comprising attentional and judgmental bias.The researches and facts
reveals that behavioural, psychological and cognitive components of emotions are crucial and
they acts as an important determinants in animal’s behaviour ((Mendl and et.al., 2009). Different
measures and approaches have been developed to monitor and measure the behavioural and
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psychological aspects of emotions in an animal. The likes, dislikes, pain, behaviour and sadness,
happiness etc. play a decisive role in determining behaviour of animals. However cognitive
component of emotion is widely unexplored segment of the subject (Gutnik and et.al., 2006).
Different stimuli has been analysed which affect the human cognitive emotions which affect
their judgement, memories and biases.
Judgement bias is observed in case of animals as in the research conducted it is identified
that judgement bias may come in existence in case emotions have impact on decision making of
animals. In the research of Mendl (2009), it is identified that it is difficult to directly measure
animal’s conscious emotions therefore, physiological and behavioural components helps to
determine emotional valence of the animals. In this, cognitive function such as information
processing is considered as an indicator for the animal’s emotion, more importantly, valence
which state that people in negative state tends to retrieve negative memories & create negative
decisions also. The researcher has applied judgemental bias paradigm wherein animals have been
trained and in this, one cue presented positive feelings and another one with negative emotional
state. Both of the cues have been presented with ambiguous cues and hypothesized that group of
animal with negative state are more likely to respond the stimuli when they have pessimistic
response. The findings stated that treatment brought change in the learning, motivation and
general activities. Although the research had studied rats, dogs, monkeys, starlings and human in
hypothesis testing, still, the sample selected was too small which is the main limitation.
Moreover, it is possible that different species might shown different yields in the treatment
performed results in confounding interpretation which limits the outcome of the study.
Self-directed behaviour is observed in case of animals as it can be observed that
sometimes they injured themselves. There is geographic boundary within which animals live and
if anyone crosses that boundary fight comes in existence among animals. The study presented by
Vint (2005), it is mentioned that behavioural aspects are the indicators of diseases in animal such
as anxiety, night walking, irritability, aggression, anxiety and others. The research on dogs
investigated higher prolactin levels with high anxiety and chronic stress related with stereotypic
& displacement behaviour, in contrast low level of prolactin indicates fear & phobias. Self-
directed behaviour is regarded as the behaviour how animal directs their efforts towards
themselves repeatedly in the absence of medical treatment. It indulges a lot of changes from
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maintenance behaviour i.e. self-grooming, aggression and others. In animal, it is also termed as
self-injurious behaviour i.e. petechiation, ulcers, abrasion and others which may cause
dermatomes conditions among animals. The main strength of the study is that it had studied the
impact of self-directed behaviour among animals whereas it studied only two species dog and
cat. According to the results, farm cats studied that self-grooming among cats has been identified
to 15% of the cats time whereas confined indoor cats result reported 4% of the cats time and 8%
during non-resting or non-sleeping time in self-grooming.
There is need to increase self-awareness among people in respect to behaviour of
animals. This is because animals cannot explain or communicate whether they feeling hungry or
are suffered from any disease. If those who work in forest to protect animals will be aware about
behaviour of animals then in that case they can take action on time and can handle them. It can
be said that at mass level there is need to increase self-awareness among animals. In this regard
there is need to do deep research on animals because if same will be done then in that case
experts will come to know more about different species and relevant entity will be able to
manage animals in forest or in zoo in better manner. It can be said that it is very important for
one to understand animal behaviour and enhancement in self-awareness will make this possible.
Major arguments relating to animal cognition has been submitted by the researches on
account of the fact that animals does not believe on each other and this happened because they
does not have cognitive power to think. Gutnik and et.al., (2006) argued that animals does not
have any sort of attitude towards something and due to this reason there behavior is not guided
by specific thinking. However the stated aspect was argued against the belief that mind of
different species has different potential to think in specific situation.
These species act differently creating a base for well-defined research and development
aspects in the economy. Mendl and et.al., (2009) analyzed animal cognition as the aspect of
analyzing the behavior and psychology of the animal and state that only by analyzing animal
cognition its behavior can be understand. Moreover the key difference of humans and non-
humans lies in the fact of language abilities. The expression of emotions has played a significant
role in understanding the mind and behavioral aspects of human beings. The application of
effective tools and techniques in the evaluation has helped in attaining well defined results. It can
be said that research is carried out in proper manner in the present research study.
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The experiments conducted on rats indicate anhedonia where change in living conditions
affected their food habits, responses towards actions or activities. The aspect of social play
behavior was also helpful in revealing the behavioral aspect within animals. The observation of
locomotive play was determined within new born within few days of lines when their respective
mothers were around them.
Cognitive measures
Paul, Harding and Mendl, (2005) defined cognition research as the process to understand
behavior in animal species in terms of comprehending way in which they make decisions. It is
defined as a process of assessing emotional trait or state in the animal. Analyzing cognitive
capabilities helps in understanding the capacities of solving common problems faced by animals.
Researchers analyzed that day to day issues of finding food, seeking shelter and avoiding
predators are the aspects which demands a subsequent focus and understanding. Cognition
involves processing information, from sensing the environment to making decisions based on
available information. Different researches have been carried out in order to evaluate the daily
lives of animals and their cognitive capabilities in the given environment. This has helped the
researchers in attaining high and successive growth aspects. The evaluation of ability of size and
quantity has also been analyzed in animals along with. Steklis and Lane, (2012) evaluated that
fishes has the ability to effectively distinguish between the qualities different between 1:2 ratios.
However when the ration was revised to 2:3 the analysis seemed difficult for the animal.
Memory aspects of animals have also challenged researches for evaluating the cognitive
emotions. Analysis revealed that few animals such as nutcracker birds, squirrels etc. has sharp
spatial memory which helps them in effective locating and storing their food supplies. The study
had investigated the role of emotion in decision making process which is regarded as
neuroeconomic approach.
This has helped the animals in managing their survival in the geographic area in which
they are living. Thus it can be analyzed that elements of cognitive emotions within animals play
a significant roles in increasing their survival. Means that more animal will be cognitive in nature
their probability of survival will increase at rapid pace.
Some effective researches have helped in attaining effective and validated results
explaining effective cognitive capabilities of different species. Experiments conducted to analyze
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the sense of direction or location is effective and highly strong within animal species. Means that
animals have special cognitive power in terms retaining path through which they previously pass
to do something like hunting etc. Thus, experiments can be conducted on identifying way in
which animals easily remember all these things. Experiments conducted on ants, birds, bees etc.
reveal the fact accordingly. Evaluation of judgment biases was clearly visible on animal
behavior. The initial stage of judgment biases resulted in created anxiety within animals for short
term period which when continued resulted in chronic issues.
The evaluation stated that different species follow different abilities to find food and
shelter. For example arctic birds have an ability to remember location in their minds which helps
them to migrate new areas and return to the destination as well. However navigation, landmarks
and dead reckoning are some common techniques used by the animals to attain the business
objectives similarly.
A research carried out in the field explained that physiological, behavioral,
cognitive and subjective components are usually observed in case of birds. It can be observed
that birds have cognitive power and this help them in deciding that to which location they have
to migrate and when to return from same place to native location (Paul, Harding and Mendl,
2005). The study revealed that different tools and techniques may be adopted for analyzing the
emotional aspects within animals. However difficulty in interpreting the results and
standardizing the same is a critical measure to determine.
Study developed Verbeek and Lee, (2011) focused on conducting scientific research on
the topic “Methodologies to measure affective states in animals: a focus on cognitive
approaches” in order to understand different aspects of animal behavior and its impact on welfare
measures undertaken by individuals. The stated study developed an effective outcome about
evidences which reflected signs of pain and distress in animals. The biological and scientific
study was undertaken for on animals in order to evaluate cognitive power of animals. The study
revealed that behavior of animals can be analyzed deeply by observing acts they perform on
daily basis. An isolated sheep for example increased attempts to escape, decrease in food intake
of animals revealed the sign of stress and depression. However the evaluation in behavioral
aspect to analyze a positive indicator is vastly limited. Different experiments conducted on sheep
in the study revealed that positive behavioral symptoms of the animals were comparatively very
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low (De Waal, 2011). The experiments conducted on sheep reflected that a groomed sheep
showed positive reactions towards clean housing facilities and living condition. This was
evaluated through higher amplitude changes in cortical hemoglobin concentrations. The analysis
revealed that the outcomes collected for pain and pleasure were very useful however its
interpretation was not straightforward (Rutherford and Lindell, 2011). The negative and positive
stimulus observed within an animal was seen in more than one situation as well, which was
widely effective for the analysis.
Paul, Harding and Mendl, (2005) analysed the cognitive behaviour of the animals and
revealed that these are the subjective aspects of analysis which are most challenging to analyse
by the analyst. As per the evaluation it was revealed that the major challenge in examining the
subjective state of mind of the animal was that they are unable to express it verbally (Steklis and
Lane, 2012). As per the study the easiest way to find out the feeling of an individual was through
verbal conversation. The process of acquiring, processing and storing information for non-human
was unable to compete in the evaluation.
Raio, and et.al., (2013) analysed an appraisal based theory for measuring animal state in
different conditions. The theory defined that the emotional aspects of the behaviour may not
necessarily represent some physical acts of animals. Means that in case of animals their emotions
does not have any relevance to their activities. These components reflect no sensory receptors for
the emotional value. Appraisal theory thus focused on giving a specific value to the stimuli in
order to evaluate the impact on the behaviour (Fernando and Robbins, 2011). It creates a
significant and well defined impact on research value and determination. Oatley and Johnson-
Laird, (2014) the aspect of reinforcement theory has also been applied in the stated theory. As
per the analysis emotions are associated with positive and negative reinforcer. Positive reinforcer
includes termination of fear, frustration, anger etc. while negative reinforcer include
apprehension, fear and terror.
Levine and Leven, (2014) evaluated that complex emotional aspects leads to a significant
cognitive structure for animals. As per the analysis the value of emotions such as depression,
vulnerability, anxiety etc. are the least researched aspects of the analysis. Researches develop a
significant correlation between the stimuli and reactions towards the same. A lamb reacted with a
startle by finding a sudden appearance of scarf in front of it. It was evaluated that the expression
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of fear towards the stimuli could be observed through sudden shoot in heart rate (Steklis and
Lane, 2012). The theory also analyses subsequent sign of change in animal behavior and stress
level due to inclusion of different stimuli. The ability to control a situation therefore also seems
to influence the emotional response to an event in animals. The appraisal theory thus has helped
in analyzing effective manner to determine the complex emotions and behavioral aspects of the
animals. The theory has developed an effective base for creating a well-defined analytical
measures towards the set standards in the field.
CONCLUSION
The overall evaluation of the study revealed that the aspects of behavioral and emotional
aspect is significant for the analysis within human and animals. Researches revealed that
examining animal behavior has taken a significant prowl within the environment however
major \challenge in the aspect deals with the lack of verbal ability of the animals. As per the
research results it is identified that the studies conducted on the subject has developed a
significant result in the analysis (Fernando and Robbins, 2011). As per the researches animal
cognitive studies are significantly done on animals time to time by different researchers. A
continuous progress is being made in analysis and evaluating the state of animal. The evaluation
of stimuli has helped in collecting significant and valid information on the subject (Konok, Nagy
and Miklósi, 2015). Major focus in the preset era has been upon the negative behavior of animals
on different stimuli and given situations however there are significant measures which can help
in developing high development aspects for the researcher. The analysis of positive stimuli will
help in evaluating the behavioral aspect which will help biologists and scientists in analyzing the
measures in which animals can be effectively taken care of. Moreover the selected study
developed a well-defined analysis of limited analysis conducted in the field
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