Study
A neural correlate of sensory consciousness in a corvid bird
Nieder, Andreas; Wagener, Lysann; Rinnert, Paul
Science, 2020
Crows reported whether they had seen a faint visual stimulus while neurons were recorded. Because the stimulus was near the threshold of detection, identical stimuli sometimes were reported as seen and sometimes were not.
- Studied in
- Corvus corone
- Sample size
- 2 trained carrion crows
Neural activity tracked what the bird reported rather than what was presented: the same stimulus produced different activity depending on whether the crow indicated it had seen it.
What it means
The authors' reading, and ours. Where they differ, that difference is the point.
How the authors put it
The recorded activity is a neural correlate of subjective sensory experience in a bird, implying that the capacity does not require a mammalian cortex.
How NatureHQ reads it
This study is regularly reported as "crows are conscious", which goes further than the data. What it shows is that the birds' neural activity tracked their own report rather than the physical stimulus — the same signature used to study conscious perception in humans and monkeys. Whether that signature means the same thing in a bird is an open question that no experiment of this design can close, and the authors are careful about it even where the coverage is not.
- Two animals.
- A neural correlate of a report is not a demonstration of subjective experience.
- The interpretive leap from correlate to consciousness is philosophical as much as empirical.
What this study is used for on NatureHQ
One study can inform several subjects. Here is everywhere this one is cited.
Published by: American Association for the Advancement of SciencePublished in Science or Science Advances (AAAS).
doi.org/10.1126/science.abb1447
This reference was resolved automatically against Crossref and OpenAlex on 2026-08-11.
NatureHQ summarises research in its own words and does not reproduce published text. Reviewed 2026-08-09.