My answer about that : I think there is several level of consciousness and it's already a retroaction process.
The animal one is the product of a retroaction between order of the brain, followed by the sensation which is reinjected to it.
For example a baby touch/smell/taste things, have a sensation and realize he has the "power" to study and modify his environment.
A mirror is more complex, subtile and become psychic.
You make grimaces or stand in front of a mirror and experience your own expression, you intellectualize your presence.
It's function of the developement of our biologic computer (brain), a human develop more complex levels of consciousness than an animal.
But there is other levels of sensations leading to greatest level of consciousness - psychic...
So, the more we are developped, the widest is our consciousness.
Note that :
- the "order" is related to the will, to be, is yang
- the sensation to the feeling, to have, the yin
So it's circulation of energy between polarities reinjected to each other - a retroaction
This principle is used in regulator, amplifiers... :
a signal is sent to a circuit whose behavior can be evaluated arithmetically, then the output is sent back to the input via another circuit (an attenuator or another system). The whole has a comportment.