Volume 21: pp. 113-119

Consciousness in Animal Behavior: Applying Tinbergen’s Framework to Current Research on Nonhuman Animal Awareness

Caroline G. Strang

University of Western Ontario

Madeleine I.R. Brodbeck

The University of Tübingen

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Abstract

The New York Declaration on Animal Consciousness (NYD) shows that nonhuman animal awareness is an active research area. However, several unresolved challenges identified by Griffin in the 1976 scientific study of animal consciousness continue to deter researchers. We sidestep debate around studies of consciousness and instead explore how studies identified in the NYD address Tinbergen’s Four Questions. We found that ontogeny is overlooked in studies of animal consciousness, whereas most studies focus on mechanism. Although our efforts do not resolve long-standing challenges in consciousness research, we do provide a different perspective that may hold prescriptive utility for future research.

Keywords: consciousness, awareness, behavior, Griffin, Tinbergen

Author Note  Caroline G. Strang, Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7.

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Caroline G. Strang at cstrang@uwo.ca