Are Animals Aware of What They Are Looking for in the Course of Exploratory Actions?
Abstract
This commentary links animal consciousness to exploratory behavior through integrative levels theory. Building on Feibleman’s (1954) hierarchy, curiosity and consciousness are framed as structured continua in which higher levels preserve and transcend lower ones. Exploration is proposed to develop from reflexive orienting to perceptual and locomotor exploration, object manipulation, and cognitive curiosity, paralleling a shift from nonconscious sensation to sensory and affective awareness, self-awareness, and metaconsciousness. As regulation moves from automatic to controlled, overlapping control mechanisms may allow these hierarchies to interact and mutually scaffold.
Keywords: awareness, consciousness, curiosity, exploration, integration levels