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The evolution of consciousness: Olfaction first, vision later?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 June 2026

Jonathan Birch Open the ORCID record for Jonathan Birch [Opens in a new window]
Jonathan Birch*
Affiliation:
London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK j.birch2@lse.ac.uk https://personal.lse.ac.uk/birchj1/
*
*Corresponding author.
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Abstract

In a vision-first story, conscious vision evolved before other kinds of conscious experience. This can be contrasted with an olfaction-first story, in which conscious vision co-opted integrative mechanisms that first evolved for modeling the causes of olfactory stimuli. An olfaction-first story makes good sense of the connection between consciousness and holistic integration across temporal windows in the ∼400ms range.

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Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 49 , 2026 , e167
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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