The Inner Lives of Cephalopods

Abstract

Th e min d s of ceph alop o d s h ave ca ptiva ted scien tists for millennia, yet the extent that we can un derstan d th eir su b- j e ct iv e experiences remain s cont est ed . In this artic le , w e con sider the sum of our scient ific prog ress t owards under standing th e inn er li ves of cep halop o ds. Here, we outline th e be havio ral respo nses to specific exper iment a l p aradig ms that are h e l p ing us to reveal th eir su bj e ct iv e experiences. We con sider evidence from thre e bro ad researc h cat egories, whic h h e lp to i l lumi- nate wh eth er soft-b o die d cepha lop o ds (o cto p us, cuttlefish, and squid) have an awareness of self , awarenes s of others, and an awaren ess of tim e. Wh ere th ere are current gaps in the lit erature , we o utline cephalo p o d b eh aviors th at wa rra n t experimen tal invest igat ion. We argue that invest igat ions, espe cia l ly frame d t hrough t he lens o f co m para tiv e psy chology, hav e the potent ia l t o ext en d our un derstan ding of th e inn er lives o f this extrao rdin ary cla ss of anim al s.