The behavioural cue of ‘flexible self-protection’ is a way to establish whether an animal feels pain, scientists say
Crickets that received the hot probe “overwhelmingly” directed their attention to the affected antenna – they groomed it more frequently, and tended to it over a longer period of time, he says. “They weren’t just agitated and flustered. They were directing their attention to the actual antennae that was hit with this hot probe.”
Yes, exactly my point. How can an insect feel pain when they’re devoid of the complex machinery that allows them to have pain emotion and connect the pain experience to a self.
I took more issue with the use of “feel” as that’s normally associated with a human experience of feeling. An insect lacks “hardware” to approximate a human experience of feeling.
The paper in the OP does suggest though that they feel pain? Apparently there is a signal transmitted to the brain or they wouldn’t react. What hardware is lacking?