Evolution of consciousness: Phylogeny, ontogeny, and emergence from general anesthesia

Mashour, George A.; Alkire, Michael T.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1301188110

Cited by 144Philosophy and Theoretical ScienceMemory and Neural MechanismsSleep and Wakefulness Research

Evolution of consciousness: Phylogeny, ontogeny, and emergence from general anesthesia

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Mashour, George A., Alkire, Michael T.·2013·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI 10.1073/pnas.1301188110PMC PMC3690605

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Abstract

Are animals conscious? If so, when did consciousness evolve? We address these long-standing and essential questions using a modern neuroscientific approach that draws on diverse fields such as consciousness studies, evolutionary neurobiology, animal psychology, and anesthesiology. We propose that the stepwise emergence from general anesthesia can serve as a reproducible model to study the evolution of consciousness across various species and use current data from anesthesiology to shed light on the phylogeny of consciousness. Ultimately, we conclude that the neurobiological structure of the vertebrate central nervous system is evolutionarily ancient and highly conserved across species and that the basic neurophysiologic mechanisms supporting consciousness in humans are found at the earliest points of vertebrate brain evolution. Thus, in agreement with Darwin’s insight and the recent “Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness in Non-Human Animals,” a review of modern scientific data suggests that the differences between species in terms of the ability to experience the world is one of degree and not kind.

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Conscious Processing and the Global Neuronal Workspace Hypothesis
Mashour, G. A., Roelfsema, P., Changeux, J.-P., & Dehaene, S. (2020) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2020.01.026 · Cited by 1,164 · see citing works
“Evidence now suggests that, despite a diversity of root causes, there is possibly a common proximate cause that disrupts the reverberant networks of the GNW that have been posited to enable conscious access (Mashour, 2013).”
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What insects can tell us about the origins of consciousness.
Barron, A. B., & Klein, C. (2016) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1520084113 · Cited by 446 · see citing works
Consciousness in humans and non-human animals: recent advances and future directions
Boly, M., Seth, A. K., Wilke, M., Ingmundson, P., Baars, B., Laureys, S., Edelman, D. B., & Tsuchiya, N. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00625 · Cited by 291 · see citing works
Insects have the capacity for subjective experience
Klein, C., & Barron, A. B. (2016) · Animal Sentience · doi:10.51291/2377-7478.1113 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
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Baluška, F., & Reber, A. (2019) · BioEssays · doi:10.1002/bies.201800229 · Cited by 163 · see citing works
The evolutionary and genetic origins of consciousness in the Cambrian Period over 500 million years ago
Feinberg, T. E., & Mallatt, J. (2013) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00667 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
“Most studies of comparative animal-consciousness proceed this way (e.g., Edelman et al., 2005; Butler, 2008a; Mashour and Alkire, 2013).”
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The Biology of General Anesthesia from Paramecium to Primate
Kelz, M. B., & Mashour, G. A. (2019) · Current Biology · doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.09.071 · Cited by 151 · see citing works
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Anesthesia and the neurobiology of consciousness
Mashour, G. A. (2024) · Neuron · doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2024.03.002 · Cited by 127 · see citing works
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Profiles of animal consciousness: A species-sensitive, two-tier account to quality and distribution
Dung, L., & Newen, A. (2023) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2023.105409 · Cited by 78 · see citing works
Through the looking glass: how do marked dolphins use mirrors and what does it mean?
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Phenomenal interface theory: a model for basal consciousness
Klein, C., & Barron, A. B. (2025) · Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences · doi:10.1098/rstb.2024.0301 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“While we do not reiterate the argument here, arguments for the subcortical basis of subjective experience in humans [16,40–43] provide important convergent evidence for the role of a PI in subjective experience [9,16].”

Authors: Mashour, G. A., & Alkire, M. T.
Affiliations: University of Michigan (US)
University of California, Irvine (US)
ORCID: Mashour, George A.
Venue: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Published: 2013-06-10
Volume: 110
Issue: supplement_2
Pages: 10357-10364
ISSN: 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
1091-6490
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1301188110
PMC: PMC3690605
OpenAlex: W2168918152
Cited by: 144
References: 106
Citations by year: 2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 5 · 2012: 1
FWCI: 15.20
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: green
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Locations: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM098578)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Sleep and Wakefulness Research
Keywords: evolution of consciousness, emergence from general anesthesia, animal consciousness, vertebrate brain evolution, central nervous system evolution, anesthesiology
MeSH terms: Anesthesia, General, Animals, Consciousness, Biological Evolution, Humans, Models, Biological, Species Specificity

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Evolution of consciousness: Phylogeny, ontogeny, and emergence from general anesthesia

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