Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30730875›Full record

ArticlePLoS biology2019

Fish, mirrors, and a gradualist perspective on self-awareness.

Frans B M de Waal

Abstract readComment
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
40citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

40 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Simian Selves: From the Mirror Test to Habeas Corpus.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. On the mirror test and the evolutionary origin of self-awareness in vertebrates.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  6. Conscious birds.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  7. Body Size Awareness and Modular Self-Representation in Reedfish (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025
    Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Wistar Male Rats (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Legal Personhood for Animals: Has Science Made Its Case?Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023
    Article
  15. Ferrets (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author.

Frans B M de WaalLiving Links, Yerkes National Primate Research Center and Psychology Department, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.ORCID 0000-0003-2021-6653

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The mirror mark test has encouraged a binary view of self-awareness according to which a few species possess this capacity whereas others do not. Given how evolution works, however, we need a more gradualist model of the various ways in which animals construe a self and respond to mirrors. The recent study on cleaner wrasses (Labroides dimidiatus) by Kohda and colleagues highlights this need by presenting results that, due to ambiguous behavior and the use of physically irritating marks, fall short of mirror self-recognition. The study suggests an intermediate level of mirror understanding, closer to that of monkeys than hominids.

Indexed as

ConsciousnessFishesAnimalsVisual Perception

Identifiers

PMID30730875
PMCPMC6366752

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.