Discrimination of drug effect and animal consciousness.

The aim of the present paper is to formulate an argument in favor of animal consciousness and subjectivity in the case of drug discrimination. Thus, a nimals are said to be able to recognize internal states and use them as cue s to guide their action in the experimental paradigm of discrimination. The argument has the three following premises and a conclusion, all of which a re justified with empirical evidence: (1) Drug discrimination in humans is due to their subjective effects. (2) Drug discrimination in animals closely matches human drug discriminatio n. (3) Cue interoception, which is the discriminative stimulus, cannot be expl ained only by drug-receptor interactions. Conclusion: By strong analogy we can infer that animals perceive or are awa re of the subjective effects of drugs. If this is the case, we can assert that drug discrimination in animals is e vidence of consciousness and subjectivity in them.