Sentience

High school (ages 12+)
Thinking & Learning

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/sentience

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the definition?The capacity to experience subjective feelings and sensations, particularly pleasure and pain
2. What is the neurological correlates?Associated with nervous system processing, including nociception and reward pathways
3. How do scientists know animals can feel?Scientists look at how animals move, how their bodies react, and sometimes even their brain activity to see if they have nervous systems that can send signals of pain or pleasure.
4. Why is sentience important for treating animals kindly?Because a creature that can feel pain or joy has interests that matter, we should think about how our actions affect them, which is why animal rights and welfare care about sentience.

Subjective Experience: An individual's personal, internal awareness and perception of events and states.
Valenced States: Mental experiences characterized by an inherent positive (pleasure) or negative (pain) quality.
Moral Consideration: The ethical principle of taking into account the interests and well-being of certain entities.
Nociception: The sensory nervous system process that initiates the perception of pain.