definitive proof that fish don’t experience painful events.

There is a divide among contemporary scientists and philosophers on the issue of animal suffering, particularly in fish. Following the discovery of pain receptors in fish in the early 21st century, scientists developed behavioral experiments that seemed to show that fish feel pain.

However, some researchers continued to highlight the fact that fish lack certain cortical regions in their brains associated with the emotional unpleasantness of pain, or “pain affect.”

In the article, “Against Neo-Cartesianism: Neurofunctional Resilience and Animal Pain,” the UTA faculty members and their colleagues draw upon contemporary neuroscience to argue that many humans who have suffered brain injuries that impact pain-processing regions still maintain pain affect and self-awareness. This suggests that such cortical regions aren’t necessary for pain, or that the brain can compensate to ensure essential functions such as pain affect remain intact.