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From:
Peter Loring Borst <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 16 Jul 2016 08:29:24 -0400
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A very strong case can be made for insect consciousness based up their communication abilities and other behaviors. This study scrupulously avoids the study of those externalities and focuses on the neurological features which support a level of intelligence in the invertebrates.

Quoted material for review purposes only:

At least one invertebrate clade, the insects, has a capacity for the most basic aspect of consciousness:
subjective experience. In vertebrates the capacity for subjective experience is supported by integrated
structures in the midbrain that create a neural simulation of the state of the mobile animal in space. This
integrated and egocentric representation of the world from the animal’s perspective is sufficient for subjective
experience. Structures in the insect brain perform analogous functions. 

The insect brain also supports a capacity for subjective experience. In both vertebrates and insects this form of
behavioral control system evolved as an efficient solution to basic problems of sensory reafference and
true navigation. The brain structures that support subjective experience in vertebrates and insects are very
different from each other, but in both cases they are basal to each clade. Hence we propose the origins of
subjective experience can be traced to the Cambrian.

What is important, from our perspective, is that either proposing
or denying that insects have subjective experience should
require telling an evidence-based structural, functional, and
comparative story about the insect brain. We have downplayed
behavioral data. Critically, we have not relied on evidence of
unusual or clever achievements by insects. Rather, we suggest,
behavior is important only insofar as it is a guide to understanding
the underlying mechanisms by which behavior is generated.

In sum, new functional analyses of the insect brain emphasize
how it supports a behavioral core control system that is functionally
analogous to that of the vertebrate midbrain (Fig. 2). This
no doubt supports much of the dynamic and flexible behavior for
which some insects are famous. 

If the insect brain supports subjective experience, then this not
only increases the diversity of animals considered to have these
abilities—it also requires a reconsideration of when this ability
might have appeared on Earth.

Barron, A. B., & Klein, C. (2016). What insects can tell us about the origins of consciousness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(18), 4900-4908.

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