IS IT POSSIBLE TO JUDGE THE SUBJECTIVE PE RCEPTION OF INTERNAL STATE IN ANIMALS - A CRITICAL ANALYSIS FROM A SCIENTIFIC POINT-OF-VIEW

The ability to feel good or bad depends on the presence of consciousne ss. Since, in mammals, the basic structure and physiology of the brain is the same as in human beings, it seems reasonable to assume conscio us perception in the members of this taxon. However, the mere presence of consciousness does not say anything about how internal or external states are perceived qualitatively. This perception depends on a larg e number of specific parameters like individual ontogenetic fate, phys iology, behavioural repertoire and so forth. A way to judge subjective feelings in animals is to find some non-specific physiological reacti ons, i.e such that are shared by all mammals, and correlate them with human feeling. In this article we evaluate the impact of this method a nd search for evidence of some physiological and behavioural parameter s with respect to subjective feeling. Based on this material we conclu de that is is impossible to obtain a reliable judgement using only a f ew parameters, gained under arbitrary conditions. We propose to judge the subjective perception of the individual state by measuring a speci es-specific complex of ethological and physiological parameters, inclu ding the activity in limbic brain areas, under controlled environmenta l conditions as a species reference and exploit this frame of referenc e under usual housing conditions of farm and experimental animals.