Virtual Research Seminar Series

Next Seminar - June 25 - 4pm GMT

When and Why Are Motivational Trade-Offs Evidence of Sentience?

Motivational trade-off behaviours, where an organism behaves as if flexibly weighing up an opportunity for reward against a risk of injury, are often regarded as evidence that the organism has valenced experiences like pain. This type of evidence has been influential in shifting opinion regarding crabs and insects. Critics note that (i) the precise links between trade-offs and consciousness are not fully known; (ii) simple trade-offs are evinced by the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, mediated by a mechanism plausibly too simple to support conscious experience; (iii) pain can sometimes interfere with rather than support making trade-offs rationally. However, rather than undermining trade-off evidence in general, such cases show that the nature of the trade-off, and its underlying neural substrate, matter. This seminar investigates precisely how.

Simon Brown, Research Officer, London School of Economics

Upcoming Seminars

August 26, 2025 - Matilda Gibbons

Past Seminars on our YouTube

May 2025 - “Investigations on the possibility of pain in crustaceans and changes in how these animals are used” (Emeritus Professor Bob Elwood: Queen’s University, Belfast, UK)

April 2025 - “The 3Rs Principles in Invertebrate Research” (Dr. Miriam A Zemanova, University of Fribourg, Switzerland)

October 2024 - “Identifying trends in reporting on the ethical treatment of insects in research” (Craig Perl, PhD; Insect Welfare Research Society, USA)

August 2024 - “The Sphex story: How humans kept repeating themselves” (Fred Keijzer, PhD; University of Groningen, the Netherlands)

June 2024 - “How honeybees think” (Andrew Barron, PhD; Macquarie University, AU)

April 2024 - “The moral status of insects” (Jeff Sebo, PhD; New York University, USA)

March 2024 - “The needs and means of using non-lethal methods in entomological research” (Gabor Lövei, PhD; Aarhus University & University of Debrecen & Marco Ferrante, PhD; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany)

February 2024 - “Evaluating electrical stunning as a humane slaughter method for decapod crustaceans: Lessons learned when assessing sensitivity” (Amaya Albalat, PhD; University of Stirling, UK) - view slides here

December 2023 - “How the cricket feels and what the mealworm has to say: The influence of rearing environments on insect welfare in different food and feed production systems” (Alexander Haverkamp, PhD; Wageningen University, the Netherlands)

October 2023 - “Insect Sentience” (Lars Chittka, PhD; Queen Mary University of London, UK) - view recording of comparable talk at UFAW, here

August 2023 - “How Can We Know What is Good for Insects?” (Heather Browning, PhD; Southhampton University, UK)

June 2023 - “Insect welfare: Solid foundations for an emerging field” (Meghan Barrett, PhD; California State University Dominguez Hills, USA)