Self-consciousness: beyond the looking-glass and what dogs found there

Self-recognition, that is, the recognition of one’s own self, has been studied mainly by examining animals’ and children’s responses to their reflections in mirrors (Gallup et al. 2002). The definitive test is whether or not a subject is capable of using the reflection to notice and respond to a mark on the face, head or other parts of the body by touching the mark (Bard et al. 2006). The mark, which is placed on the subjects when they are distracted or under anaesthesia, is only visible to the subject when they look at themselves in a mirror. The basic idea behind the test is that the subject who understands the concepts of “self” and “others” can differentiate between the two, and can recognize himself in the reflection (Swartz et al. 1999). Based on these results other behavioural skills can be inferred, e.g. empathy (Bischof-Köhler 2012).