ArticleNous (Detroit, Mich.)2022
The search for invertebrate consciousness.
Article in Nous (Detroit, Mich.), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
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.
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.
Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 189 citations in OpenAlex.
- Heads and tails of individual differences: the role of environmental complexity in cognitive development of juvenile lobsters.Animal cognition · 2026Article
- The modal-modular model of animal self-representation: a comparative and operational framework.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- From consciousness to observation: rethinking what consciousness science explains.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Against (theory-neutral) method (in consciousness science).Neuroscience of consciousness · 2026Article
- Peirce's revenge on the Chinese Room.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- What the functions of consciousness are depends on what one thinks consciousness is.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Phenomenal interface theory: a model for basal consciousness.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Consciousness at sea.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Evolutionary Trajectories of Consciousness: From Biological Foundations to Technological Horizons.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Why we should study animal consciousness.Learning & behavior · 2025Article
- How to Live in the Moment: The Methodology and Limitations of Evolutionary Research on Consciousness.Cognitive science · 2025Article
- Does neural computation feel like something?Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Everything and nothing is conscious: default assumptions in science and ethics.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Review
- Toward a universal theory of consciousness.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2024Article
- Consciousness in the cradle: on the emergence of infant experience.Trends in cognitive sciences · 2023Review
- Listen to Us: Perceptions of Animal Voice and Agency.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- The exclusionary approach to consciousness.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2023Review
- The functions of consciousness in visual processing.Neuroscience of consciousness · 2023Review
- When philosophical nuance matters: safeguarding consciousness research from restrictive assumptions.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Challenges in farmed insect welfare: Beyond the question of sentience.Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
There is no agreement on whether any invertebrates are conscious and no agreement on a methodology that could settle the issue. How can the debate move forward? I distinguish three broad types of approach: theory-heavy, theory-neutral and theory-light. Theory-heavy and theory-neutral approaches face serious problems, motivating a middle path: the theory-light approach. At the core of the theory-light approach is a minimal commitment about the relation between phenomenal consciousness and cognition that is compatible with many specific theories of consciousness: the hypothesis that phenomenally conscious perception of a stimulus facilitates, relative to unconscious perception, a cluster of cognitive abilities in relation to that stimulus. This "facilitation hypothesis" can productively guide inquiry into invertebrate consciousness. What is needed? At this stage, not more theory, and not more undirected data gathering. What is needed is a systematic search for consciousness-linked cognitive abilities, their relationships to each other, and their sensitivity to masking.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.