>I think you are making an arbitrary distinction between levels of response.
I don't think the distinction between behavior carried out by reflex networks and behavior carried out by planning involving mental models is arbitrary. We have no reason to think reflex networks involve experience whereas we do have reason to think behavior involving mental models does. So it seems like this distinction is the critical distinction in terms of determining if some organism experiences pain.
>Anyway, avoidance is assumed to already happen as a separate system.
You're projecting more onto the term "avoidance" than is warranted, and you haven't defended your reading of the term. I take something like the withdraw reflex as an example of an avoidance behavior. Clearly you don't, but since your argument rests on your different understanding of the term, and your assumption that the authors of the article intend your reading of the term, its the key disagreement and deserves more attention.
Continuing the quote from the article you started "...In non-humans, we call this sense ‘nociception’, the sense that detects potentially harmful stimuli like heat, cold, or physical injury". So it doesn't seem like the authors are intending to reference predictive behavior, but simply protective behavior in response to noxious sensory perceptions, what you called reactive behavior.
Learned avoidance is in the literature ex: “A Drosophila larva essentially lives to eat. If one odour is repeatedly paired with a sugar substrate, and another is not, it will start to preferentially approach the first odour. If the pairing is with a quinine or high salt substrate, it will start to avoid the odour.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3427554/#!po=27...
Which is why I am saying learn avoidance behavior is simply not the topic of this research.
PS: That also includes some examples of complex behaviors.
I don't think the distinction between behavior carried out by reflex networks and behavior carried out by planning involving mental models is arbitrary. We have no reason to think reflex networks involve experience whereas we do have reason to think behavior involving mental models does. So it seems like this distinction is the critical distinction in terms of determining if some organism experiences pain.
>Anyway, avoidance is assumed to already happen as a separate system.
You're projecting more onto the term "avoidance" than is warranted, and you haven't defended your reading of the term. I take something like the withdraw reflex as an example of an avoidance behavior. Clearly you don't, but since your argument rests on your different understanding of the term, and your assumption that the authors of the article intend your reading of the term, its the key disagreement and deserves more attention.
Continuing the quote from the article you started "...In non-humans, we call this sense ‘nociception’, the sense that detects potentially harmful stimuli like heat, cold, or physical injury". So it doesn't seem like the authors are intending to reference predictive behavior, but simply protective behavior in response to noxious sensory perceptions, what you called reactive behavior.