CONSCIOUSNESS-SEQUENCE OF EVOLUTION

From NeuroRehab.wiki

SUMMARY

1. ATTENTION:goal-directed movement (e.g. towards food and away from danger)[1][2][3].

2. PERCEPTION/PRAXIS:tools to perceive the environment at a distance (e.g. vision), the ability to organize, process, and interpret incoming visual & tactile-kinesthetic information to create an inner representation of the world[4][5][6].

3. MEMORY:allows animals to continue looking for food even beyond their sensory range, circumvent distractions[7].

3A. Object permanence: our awareness that things continue to exist even when we can't see them; human babies develop this at approx. 8 mths, chickens show this within 1-2 days of birth[8][9].

3B. Time sense: allows us to look forward from the present moment and anticipate the future, allows for delayed gratification[10][11][12].

4. EXECUTIVE FUNCTION: allows more complex goal directed and purposeful behaviour, to anticipate the consequences of actions & to understand others[13][14].

5. LANGUAGE:allows communication, representation of what is absent, hypothesise, collaborate with others on detailed plans, and allows greater abstraction[15][16][17]
.


Reference(s)

  1. ↑ Mashour, G. and Alkire, M., 2013. Evolution of consciousness: Phylogeny, ontogeny, and emergence from general anesthesia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(Supplement_2), pp.10357-10364.
  2. ↑ En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Girardia tigrina: Wikipedia. [online] Available at: [Accessed 20 December 2021].
  3. ↑ Sheiman, I. & Zubina, E. & Kreshchenko, Natalia. (2002). Regulation of the Feeding Behavior of the Planarian Dugesia (Girardia) tigrina. Journal of Evolutionary Biochemistry and Physiology. 38. 414-418. 10.1023/A:1021149803009.
  4. ↑ Feinberg, T. and Mallatt, J., 2013. The evolutionary and genetic origins of consciousness in the Cambrian Period over 500 million years ago. Frontiers in Psychology, 4.
  5. ↑ Hazlehurst, K. and Hendry, L., 2021. Eyes on the prize: the evolution of vision. [online] Nhm.ac.uk. Available at: [Accessed 20 December 2021].
  6. ↑ Press release. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 20 Dec 2021. Available at:
  7. ↑ Klein, S., Cosmides, L., Tooby, J. and Chance, S., 2002. Decisions and the evolution of memory: Multiple systems, multiple functions. Psychological Review, 109(2), pp.306-329.
  8. ↑ Dictionary.apa.org. 2021. APA Dictionary of Psychology. [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 December 2021].
  9. ↑ Marino, L. Thinking chickens: a review of cognition, emotion, and behavior in the domestic chicken. Anim Cogn 20, 127-147 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-016-1064-4.
  10. ↑ Plato.stanford.edu. 2021. Temporal Consciousness (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 December 2021].
  11. ↑ Abeyesinghe, S., Nicol, C., Hartnell, S. and Wathes, C., 2005. Can domestic fowl, Gallus gallus domesticus, show self-control?. Animal Behaviour, 70(1), pp.1-11.
  12. ↑ Raby, C & Alexis, D & Dickinson, Anthony & Clayton, N. (2007). Planning for the Future by Western Scrub-Jays. Nature. 445. 919-21. 10.1038/nature05575.
  13. ↑ de Kort, Selvino & Correia, Sérgio & Alexis, Dean & Dickinson, Anthony & Clayton, Nicola. (2007). The Control of Food-Caching Behavior by Western Scrub-Jays (Aphelocoma californica). Journal of experimental psychology. Animal behavior processes. 33. 361-70. 10.1037/0097-7403.33.4.361.
  14. ↑ Clayton NS, Dally JM, Emery NJ. Social cognition by food-caching corvids. The western scrub-jay as a natural psychologist. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2007 Apr 29;362(1480):507-22. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2006.1992. PMID: 17309867; PMCID: PMC2346514.
  15. ↑ Nowak, M. and Krakauer, D., 1999. The evolution of language. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 96(14), pp.8028-8033.
  16. ↑ Branan, N., 2009. Reading Minds. Scientific American Mind, 20(6), pp.8-8.
  17. ↑ Benítez-Burraco, A., 2021. How the Language We Speak Affects the Way We Think. [online] Psychology Today. Available at: [Accessed 21 December 2021].


Cifu, D.X. (2020). Braddom’s physical medicine and rehabilitation. Elsevier. Get it on Amazon.
Cuccurullo, S. (2019). Physical medicine and rehabilitation board review. New York: Demosmedical. Get it on Amazon.
O’Young, B., Young, M.A. and Stiens, S.A. (2008). Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Secrets. Mosby. Get it on Amazon.

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