Bm. Spruijt, How the hierarchical organization of the brain and increasing cognitive abilities may result in consciousness, ANIM WELFAR, 10, 2001, pp. S77-S87
Defining perception, awareness, consciousness and reflexive or self-reflexi
ve consciousness is difficult. I will not finger on definitions of fuzzy co
ncepts but will attempt to put forward evidence for the rationale that awar
eness is likely to emerge as a consequence of how the brain processes infor
mation. Efficiency in information processing has resulted in a limited numb
er of preferential (motivational) states of the brain and, in fact, of the
whole organism. In addition, animals have the ability to internally represe
nt external conditions and, through interactions with the motivational stat
e, generate expectations,
It is argued that optimal decision-making requires that possible sequences
of behaviours each activate their associated neuronal networks representing
cue- and context-related information. Prior to the initiation of an action
, the consequences of each possible scenario are estimated An efficient ani
mal must have the ability to anticipate, weight and choose. This weighting
occurs at a hierarchically higher level and results in signals which posses
s a coordinative function in activating the appropriate motivational state,
response selection, activation of associated networks and maintenance of a
ttention.
Higher cognitive executive centres perceive and recognize such signals and
integrate ongoing behaviour with internal representations about the past an
d expectations within the context of the signal induced state. Humans exper
ience these simultaneously-occurring processes as awareness. The nature of
the subjective experience may vary from an emotional state to reflexive con
sciousness depending on the cognitive abilities of the species and the stag
e of development and the level of arousal in the individual.