When is the Capacity for Sentience Acquired During Human Fetal Development?

Tawia, S.A.

doi:10.3109/14767059209161911

Cited by 8 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…According to Tawia (1992), the capacity to consciously perceive somatosensory stimuli is a central event at the level of the cerebral cortex, not the periphery. In this regard, peripheral somatosensory receptors transmit information to second order neurons located in the spinal cord and medulla, and these neurons transmit sensory information to third-order neurons located in the thalamus which, in turn, relay the sensory input to sensory regions of the cerebral cortex.…”

Section: Onset Of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (Seps)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal welfare aspects in respect of the slaughter or killing of pregnant livestock animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses)

More¹,

Bicout²,

Bøtner

et al. 2017

EFS2

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This scientific opinion addresses animal welfare aspects of slaughtering of livestock pregnant animals. Term of Reference (ToR) 1 requested assessment of the prevalence of animals slaughtered in a critical developmental stage of gestation when the livestock fetuses might experience negative affect. Limited data on European prevalence and related uncertainties necessitated a structured expert knowledge elicitation (EKE) exercise. Estimated median percentages of animals slaughtered in the last third of gestation are 3%, 1.5%, 0.5%, 0.8% and 0.2% (dairy cows, beef cattle, pigs, sheep and goats, respectively). Pregnant animals may be sent for slaughter for health, welfare, management and economic reasons (ToR2); there are also reasons for farmers not knowing that animals sent for slaughter are pregnant. Measures to reduce the incidence are listed. ToR3 asked whether livestock fetuses can experience pain and other negative affect. The available literature was reviewed and, at a second multidisciplinary EKE meeting, judgements and uncertainty were elicited. It is concluded that livestock fetuses in the last third of gestation have the anatomical and neurophysiological structures required to experience negative affect (with 90-100% likelihood). However, there are two different possibilities whether they perceive negative affect. It is more probable that the neurophysiological situation does not allow for conscious perception (with 66-99% likelihood) because of brain inhibitory mechanisms. There is also a less probable situation that livestock fetuses can experience negative affect (with 1-33% likelihood) arising from differences in the interpretation of the fetal electroencephalogram, observed responses to external stimuli and the possibility of fetal learning. Regarding methods to stun and kill livestock fetuses at slaughter (ToR4), sets of scenarios and respective actions take account of both the probable and less probable situation regarding fetal ability for conscious perception. Finally, information was collated on methods to establish the dam's gestational stage based on physical features of livestock fetuses (ToR5).

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Section: Onset Of Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (Seps)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Animal welfare aspects in respect of the slaughter or killing of pregnant livestock animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses)

More¹,

Bicout²,

Bøtner

et al. 2017

EFS2

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Relative to other neural systems which also allow environmental interaction, the sensori-motor system begins to mature early in gestation and is highly functional throughout human in-utero life ( de Vries et al 1982 ). Although reflex movements can be demonstrated in fetuses as young as 7–8 weeks gestation, intracerebral structural involvement is not seen until 18–20 weeks gestation, when cortical plate lamination and sulcation form the anatomical substrate of the primary motor cortex ( Marin-Padilla 1970 ; Molliver et al 1973 ; Tawia 1992 ). Immature somatosensory evoked responses, cortical hemodynamic responses to painful stimulation, and electromyography responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation can all be reliably identified in preterm infants from the equivalent period to the early third trimester of gestation ( Hrbek et al 1973 ; Taylor et al 1996 ; Eyre et al 2000 ; Bartocci et al 2006 ; Slater et al 2006 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maturation of Sensori-Motor Functional Responses in the Preterm Brain

et al. 2015

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Preterm birth engenders an increased risk of conditions like cerebral palsy and therefore this time may be crucial for the brain's developing sensori-motor system. However, little is known about how cortical sensori-motor function matures at this time, whether development is influenced by experience, and about its role in spontaneous motor behavior. We aimed to systematically characterize spatial and temporal maturation of sensori-motor functional brain activity across this period using functional MRI and a custom-made robotic stimulation device. We studied 57 infants aged from 30 + 2 to 43 + 2 weeks postmenstrual age. Following both induced and spontaneous right wrist movements, we saw consistent positive blood oxygen level–dependent functional responses in the contralateral (left) primary somatosensory and motor cortices. In addition, we saw a maturational trend toward faster, higher amplitude, and more spatially dispersed functional responses; and increasing integration of the ipsilateral hemisphere and sensori-motor associative areas. We also found that interhemispheric functional connectivity was significantly related to ex-utero exposure, suggesting the influence of experience-dependent mechanisms. At term equivalent age, we saw a decrease in both response amplitude and interhemispheric functional connectivity, and an increase in spatial specificity, culminating in the establishment of a sensori-motor functional response similar to that seen in adults.

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“…One obvious possibility-but not the only possible one-is this: because prevailing scientific knowledge indicates fetuses first become sentient between 18 to 25 weeks of gestation 66 , both sides of the abortion debate could (if they were willing to conform to the Negotiation Model) arrive at a compromise agreement that (i) early abortion prior to fetal sentience is morally permissible, (ii) abortion after fetal sentience is normally impermissible, except perhaps in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life, and finally (iii) members of society share a duty to devote ample social resources to provide sexually-active women with ready access to family-planning resources (including access to affordable early-term abortion) to prevent abortion after fetal sentience. 66 See Tawia (1992) and Koch (2009). Such a compromise would almost certainly not fully satisfy many parties to the abortion debate-in part, I think, because the Discovery Model is so deeply entrenched in how people think about moral issues (viz.…”

Section: An Anti-polarizing Alternative? the Negotiation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dark Side of Morality: Group Polarization and Moral Epistemology

Arvan

2019

SSRN Journal

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This paper shows that philosophers and laypeople commonly conceptualize moral truths as discoverable through intuition, argument, or some other process. It then argues that three empirically-supported theories of group polarization suggest that this Discovery Model of morality likely plays a substantial role in causing polarization-a phenomenon known to produce a wide variety of disturbing social effects, including increasing prejudice, selfishness, divisiveness, mistrust, and violence. This paper then uses the same three empirical theories to argue that an alternative Negotiation Model of morality-according to which moral truths are instead created by negotiationpromises to not only mitigate polarization but perhaps even foster its opposite: a progressive willingness to "work across the aisle to settle contentious moral issues cooperatively. Finally, I outline avenues for further empirical and philosophical research. Most of us are accustomed to thinking of morality in a positive light. Morality, we say, is a matter of "doing good" and treating ourselves and each other "rightly." However, moral beliefs and discourse also plausibly play a role in group polarization, the tendency of social groups to divide into progressively more extreme factions, each of which regards other groups to be "wrong." 1 Group polarization often occurs along moral lines 2 , and is known to have many disturbing effects, increasing racial prejudice among the already moderately prejudiced 3 , leading group decisions to be more selfish, competitive, less trusting, and less altruistic than individual decisions 4 , eroding public trust 5 , leading juries to impose more 1

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When is the Capacity for Sentience Acquired During Human Fetal Development?

Cited by 8 publications

References 35 publications

Animal welfare aspects in respect of the slaughter or killing of pregnant livestock animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses)

Animal welfare aspects in respect of the slaughter or killing of pregnant livestock animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses)

Maturation of Sensori-Motor Functional Responses in the Preterm Brain

The Dark Side of Morality: Group Polarization and Moral Epistemology

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