Understanding Consciousness Through Birds
Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum have been diving into the evolutionary benefit of consciousness, and interestingly, they’re looking at birds for clues. They’ve recently published two papers addressing this topic.
Despite an uptick in studies about consciousness over the last twenty years, one fundamental question lingers: What purpose does consciousness serve? Why did it even emerge in some species—in humans, for instance—while remaining absent in others, like oak trees? Our insights could reveal a lot. Moreover, examining bird brains illustrates how evolution can lead to similar consciousness functions, even with various structural differences.
The studies conducted by Professors Albert Newen and Onur Güntürkün have been shared in a recent special issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, published on November 13, 2025.
Understanding Pleasure and Pain
Conscious experiences often enrich our lives, filled with joyful moments: like feeling the sun on your skin or hearing birds chirping nearby. But then there’s pain too. Whether it’s a physical ache from falling or the weight of persistent pessimism, these experiences lead to the question: why did living beings develop a system that encompasses both joy and suffering?
Newen and Carlos Montemayor sort consciousness into three types, each serving unique functions: basic arousal, general alertness, and reflexive self-consciousness.
According to Newen, basic arousal was the first to evolve—its main job was to alert the organism in life-threatening situations, ensuring survival. Pain functions effectively in this regard, signaling potential harm and triggering swift survival actions like fleeing or freezing.
Next came general alertness, which helps us hone in on critical information amidst distractions. Imagine noticing smoke while someone chats with you—your focus shifts to that smoke, allowing you to investigate.
“This helps in learning,” Montemayor adds, “like understanding that smoke indicates fire.” It also enables us to grasp more complex correlations, which is vital for scientific understanding.
Finally, here comes reflexive self-consciousness. This allows humans and certain animals to reflect on themselves, their pasts, and their future. It’s like forming a self-image that influences actions and plans.
Newen points out that reflexive consciousness developed alongside the earlier forms. It shifts the focus from the environment to a conscious acknowledgment of oneself, which can range from bodily awareness to thoughts and feelings. A simple example is recognizing your reflection in a mirror—children pick this up around 18 months, and others, like chimpanzees and dolphins, have shown similar abilities. This kind of self-awareness helps with social integration and coordination.
Birds and Their Consciousness
In their study, Gianmarco Maldarelli and Güntürkün suggest that birds display fundamental forms of conscious perception. They emphasize three main areas where birds mirror conscious experiences seen in mammals: sensory consciousness, neurobiological structures, and self-consciousness.
First up, sensory consciousness. Birds don’t just react to stimuli—they also experience them subjectively. Research indicates, for instance, that when presented with ambiguous visuals, pigeons shift their interpretations much like humans would.
Crows, too, exhibit nerve signals that indicate their subjective perceptions, responding differently based on whether they consciously perceive a stimulus or not.
Next, despite their brain structures being vastly different, birds possess functional areas that align with conscious processing. Güntürkün notes that the avian equivalent of the human prefrontal cortex, known as the NCL, is highly interconnected, allowing flexibility in information processing. This hints at similarities between bird and mammal brain connectivity.
Lastly, experiments reveal that birds might have distinct self-perception types. While some corvids pass traditional mirror tests, other variations have unveiled deeper self-awareness among different bird species.
Güntürkün points out that studies show pigeons and chickens can distinguish between their reflection and real birds, reacting based on the situation. “This indicates a basic level of self-consciousness,” he comments.
These findings imply that consciousness might be an older and more widespread trait in the evolutionary timeline than we previously thought. Birds illustrate that conscious processing can occur without a cerebral cortex, suggesting that diverse brain architectures can achieve similar functional outcomes.
