Consciousness is an individual’s understanding of his/her surroundings. He/she is aware of any thoughts, perceptions, memories, and feelings. Consciousness remains constant, but can change throughout the day even if affected by certain stimuli (Sansom 2013). It relies on the brain’s ability to sort and control sensory and mental stimulation. Specifically, the cerebellum and thalamus interact to interpret the necessary information. The cerebellum is the memory of consciousness while the …show more content…
There are many forms of monism including the main physicalism and idealism. The idea that the mind may be contained in the physical processes of the brain is physicalism. Everything is seen as physical. This is the most common position today. It proposes that physical objects complete the Universe. Behaviorism talks about mental states and their relationship to behaviors. It is a theory that psychological disorders can be altered with different behavior patterns. Human and animal behaviors can be explained through conditioning without focusing on thoughts or feelings (Sultan 2013). Functionalism states that sense and behaviors cause certain mental states. Identifying mental states correlates to what they do rather than what they are made of. Type physicalism sees mental states as brain states. For example, mental events can form certain types, which correlate with types of physical events in the brain. Similarly, the mind is all that exists in the view of idealism. Mental activity creates the basis for experience. Perceptions within the mind alone create the physical world is phenomenalism. Physical objects do not exist themselves but as sensory stimuli in certain time and area (Goswami …show more content…
The animal’s skin was marked while asleep and placed in front of a mirror. Grooming towards the mark indicates the possibility of consciousness. Through this technique it has been found that apes, elephants, pigs, dolphins and magpies are self-aware. The problem with this test is that it relies on vision rather than smell. It has also been thought that speech and communication between animals is another indication. Suffering further implies consciousness. Animals have the neuroanatomical features that create a consciousness state and intentional behaviors (Dennett