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Degrande R, Cornilleau F, Lansade L, Jardat P, Colson V, Calandreau L. Domestic hens succeed at serial reversal learning and perceptual concept generalisation using a new automated touchscreen device. Animal 2022; 16:100607. [PMID: 35963029 DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2022.100607] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Improving the welfare of farm animals depends on our knowledge on how they perceive and interpret their environment; the latter depends on their cognitive abilities. Hence, limited knowledge of the range of cognitive abilities of farm animals is a major concern. An effective approach to explore the cognitive range of a species is to apply automated testing devices, which are still underdeveloped in farm animals. In screen-like studies, the uses of automated devices are few in domestic hens. We developed an original fully automated touchscreen device using digital computer-drawn colour pictures and independent sensible cells adapted for cognitive testing in domestic hens, enabling a wide range of test types from low to high complexity. This study aimed to test the efficiency of our device using two cognitive tests. We focused on tasks related to adaptive capacities to environmental variability, such as flexibility and generalisation capacities as this is a good start to approach more complex cognitive capacities. We implemented a serial reversal learning task, categorised as a simple cognitive test, and a delayed matching-to-sample (dMTS) task on an identity concept, followed by a generalisation test, categorised as more complex. In the serial reversal learning task, the hens performed equally for the two changing reward contingencies in only three reversal stages. In the dMTS task, the hens increased their performance rapidly throughout the training sessions. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, we present the first positive result of identity concept generalisation in a dMTS task in domestic hens. Our results provide additional information on the behavioural flexibility and concept understanding of domestic hens. They also support the idea that fully automated devices would improve knowledge of farm animals' cognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Degrande
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC (Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements), F-37380 Nouzilly, Indre-et-Loire, France.
| | - Fabien Cornilleau
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC (Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements), F-37380 Nouzilly, Indre-et-Loire, France
| | - Léa Lansade
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC (Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements), F-37380 Nouzilly, Indre-et-Loire, France
| | - Plotine Jardat
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC (Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements), F-37380 Nouzilly, Indre-et-Loire, France
| | - Violaine Colson
- INRAE, LPGP (Laboratoire de Physiologie et Génomique des Poissons), Campus de Beaulieu, F-35042 Rennes cedex, Ille-et-Vilaine, France
| | - Ludovic Calandreau
- CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC (Physiologie de la Reproduction et des Comportements), F-37380 Nouzilly, Indre-et-Loire, France
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Holcomb FR, Multhaup KS, Erwin SR, Daniels SE. Spaced training enhances equine learning performance. Anim Cogn 2022; 25:683-690. [PMID: 34860336 PMCID: PMC9107396 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01580-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Revised: 10/31/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
This field experiment examined whether the well-documented benefit of spaced over massed training for humans and other animals generalizes to horses. Twenty-nine randomly selected horses (Equus ferus caballus) repeatedly encountered a novel obstacle-crossing task while under saddle. Horses were randomly assigned to the spaced-training condition (2 min work, 2 min rest, 2 min work, 2 min rest) or the massed-training condition (4 min work, 4 min rest). Total training time per session and total rest per session were held constant. Days between sessions (M = 3) were held as consistent as possible given the constraints of conducting research on a working ranch and safety-threatening weather conditions. During each training session, the same hypothesis-naïve rider shaped horses to cross a novel obstacle. Fifteen of 16 horses in the spaced-training condition reached performance criterion (94% success) while only 5 of 13 horses in the massed-training condition reached performance criterion (39% success). Horses in the spaced-training condition also initiated their first obstacle-crossing faster than horses in the massed-training condition and were faster at completing eight crossings than horses in the massed-training condition. Overall, task acquisition was higher for horses undergoing spaced training despite both groups experiencing the same total work and rest time per session. These findings generalize the learning-performance benefit observed in human spaced practice to horses and offer applied benefit to equine training.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick R. Holcomb
- Psychology Department, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035 USA
- Present Address: Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M, College Station, TX USA
| | | | - Savannah R. Erwin
- Psychology Department, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035 USA
- Present Address: Psychology & Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC USA
| | - Sarah E. Daniels
- Psychology Department, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035 USA
- Present Address: Savannah, GA USA
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Reichert MS, Crofts SJ, Davidson GL, Firth JA, Kulahci IG, Quinn JL. Multiple factors affect discrimination learning performance, but not between-individual variation, in wild mixed-species flocks of birds. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2020; 7:192107. [PMID: 32431886 PMCID: PMC7211855 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.192107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2019] [Accepted: 03/23/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Cognition arguably drives most behaviours in animals, but whether and why individuals in the wild vary consistently in their cognitive performance is scarcely known, especially under mixed-species scenarios. One reason for this is that quantifying the relative importance of individual, contextual, ecological and social factors remains a major challenge. We examined how many of these factors, and sources of bias, affected participation and performance, in an initial discrimination learning experiment and two reversal learning experiments during self-administered trials in a population of great tits and blue tits. Individuals were randomly allocated to different rewarding feeders within an array. Participation was high and only weakly affected by age and species. In the initial learning experiment, great tits learned faster than blue tits. Great tits also showed greater consistency in performance across two reversal learning experiments. Individuals assigned to the feeders on the edge of the array learned faster. More errors were made on feeders neighbouring the rewarded feeder and on feeders that had been rewarded in the previous experiment. Our estimates of learning consistency were unaffected by multiple factors, suggesting that, even though there was some influence of these factors on performance, we obtained a robust measure of discrimination learning in the wild.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael S. Reichert
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - Sam J. Crofts
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Gabrielle L. Davidson
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Josh A. Firth
- Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Merton College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Ipek G. Kulahci
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
| | - John L. Quinn
- School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland
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Stereotypic horses (Equus caballus) are not cognitively impaired. Anim Cogn 2018; 22:17-33. [PMID: 30328528 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-018-1217-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2018] [Revised: 09/28/2018] [Accepted: 10/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Stereotypies in animals are thought to arise from an interaction between genetic predisposition and sub-optimal housing conditions. In domestic horses, a well-studied stereotypy is crib-biting, an abnormal behaviour that appears to help individuals to cope with stressful situations. One prominent hypothesis states that animals affected by stereotypies are cognitively less flexible compared to healthy controls, due to sensitization of a specific brain area, the basal ganglia. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis in crib-biting and healthy controls, using a cognitive task, reversal learning, which has been used as a diagnostic for basal ganglia dysfunction. The procedure consisted of exposing subjects to four learning tasks; first and second acquisition, and their reversals. For each task, we measured the number of trials to reach criterion and heart rate and heart-rate variability. Importantly, we did not try to prevent crib-biters from executing their stereotypic behaviour. We found that the first reversal learning task required the largest number of trials, confirming its challenging nature. Interestingly, the second reversal learning task required significantly fewer trials to reach criterion, suggesting generalisation learning. However, we did not find any performance differences across groups; both stereotypic and control animals required a similar numbers of trials and did not differ in their physiological responses. Our results thus challenge the widely held belief that crib-biting horses, and stereotypic animals more generally, are cognitively impaired. We conclude that cognitive underperformance may occur in stereotypic horses if they are prevented from crib-biting to cope with experienced stress.
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Gabor V, Gerken M. Study into long-term memory of a complex learning task in Shetland ponies ( Equus caballus ). Appl Anim Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.09.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
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McGowan C, Hyytiäinen H. Muscular and neuromotor control and learning in the athletic horse. COMPARATIVE EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY 2017. [DOI: 10.3920/cep170001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Athletic performance or the kinematics of locomotion is ultimately the result of the actions of muscles. Muscular actions differ depending on the muscle group involved with anatomical and functional properties depending on the primary roles of the muscle; from stabilisation to powering locomotion. The functional (contractile and metabolic) properties of a muscle are determined by its fibre type or relative fibre type proportions in the muscle. The actions of muscle require the coordination of the nervous system with muscle contraction to produce movement or resist movement to avoid unwanted motion and tissue damage. The coordination of muscular action with the nervous system is termed neuromotor control and it requires precise proprioceptive input from the periphery, processing and input from the central nervous system (including learned or trained movements) and involves timing of muscle recruitment as well as muscle contraction. Training of muscles involves training for strength (or force generation) and stamina with measureable physiological changes with training including increased fibre size, alterations in fibre type, alterations in glycogen concentrations and lactate transport and alterations in mitochondrial and capillary density. As well as standard athletic training, skills training can make the difference in athletic performance and injury prevention in the equine athlete. This involves training of neuromotor control; training motor skills by motor relearning and conditional learning. Practical specific training techniques can be used in injury prevention, rehabilitation post injury and maintenance of the athlete. In this review we will focus on the thoracolumbar and hindlimb areas of the horse and review the importance of muscular control of locomotion, neuromotor control, the physiological effects of training and practical ways to maximise performance potential by specific physiotherapy skills training.
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Affiliation(s)
- C.M. McGowan
- Institute of Veterinary Science, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, University of Liverpool, Leahurst, CH64 7TE, United Kingdom
| | - H.K. Hyytiäinen
- Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 57, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
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Mejdell CM, Buvik T, Jørgensen GH, Bøe KE. Horses can learn to use symbols to communicate their preferences. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2016.07.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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An assessment of horse (Equus ferus caballus) responding on fixed interval schedules of reinforcement: An individual analysis. Behav Processes 2015; 120:1-13. [PMID: 26297471 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.08.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2015] [Revised: 08/05/2015] [Accepted: 08/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
We assessed different measures of temporal control of horse (N=16) responding on fixed interval schedules of reinforcement and a peak procedure. Subjects were trained to insert their heads into a response hoop to break an infrared beam in order to receive horse treats from an automatic feeder. We analyzed cumulative response records, binned response levels, quarter life, latency to first response, breakpoint, and inter-response patterns of the fixed interval trials. To analyze the peak procedure trials, we performed a series of bin analyses. To avoid potential pitfalls associated with aggregate analyses, we performed individual trial and subject analyses using an ordinal analysis within Observation Oriented Modeling. Most subjects produced clear indications that responding came under temporal control of the fixed interval schedules for most of our investigated measures, and some subjects' response levels peaked at half of the peak trial intervals. We provide the first quantitative evidence of equine timing performances using protocols based on fixed interval schedules of reinforcement.
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Ahrendt LP, Labouriau R, Malmkvist J, Nicol CJ, Christensen JW. Development of a standard test to assess negative reinforcement learning in horses. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2015.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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Mengoli M, Pageat P, Lafont-Lecuelle C, Monneret P, Giacalone A, Sighieri C, Cozzi A. Influence of emotional balance during a learning and recall test in horses (Equus caballus). Behav Processes 2014; 106:141-50. [PMID: 24875282 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2014.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2013] [Revised: 05/17/2014] [Accepted: 05/19/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
Modern day horse-human relationships entail different types of sport and riding activities, which all require learning. In evaluating the interaction between learning and emotions, studying normal coping strategies or adaptive responses to the surroundings is critical. 34 horses were involved in a cognitive test, in the absence of physical effort, to analyze performance, as well as physiological and behavioral responses related to learning, memorization and recall, associated to the capacity to reverse a learned model. Synthetic Equine Appeasing Pheromone (EAP) was used in 17 horses in order to modulate their emotional state and evaluate differences in cognitive-emotional response during cognitive effort in comparison to the control group (placebo group). Both groups showed statistically significant changes in heart rate during the test, indicating emotional and physio-cognitive activation. The EAP group produced fewer errors and made more correct choices, showing behaviors related to increased attention, with less influence from environmental stimuli. The capacity to learn to learn, as shown in the bibliography, allows animals to establish conceptual learning, when a normal or positive emotional state (in this case modulated by semiochemicals) is used to control limbic system activation and, consequently, decrease stressful/fearful reactions, resulting in better learning capacities during the cognitive test.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuel Mengoli
- IRSEA - Institut de Recherche en Sémiochimie et Ethologie Appliquée, Le Rieu Neuf, 84 490 Saint Saturnin Les Apt, France.
| | - Patrick Pageat
- IRSEA - Institut de Recherche en Sémiochimie et Ethologie Appliquée, Le Rieu Neuf, 84 490 Saint Saturnin Les Apt, France
| | - Céline Lafont-Lecuelle
- IRSEA - Institut de Recherche en Sémiochimie et Ethologie Appliquée, Le Rieu Neuf, 84 490 Saint Saturnin Les Apt, France
| | - Philippe Monneret
- IRSEA - Institut de Recherche en Sémiochimie et Ethologie Appliquée, Le Rieu Neuf, 84 490 Saint Saturnin Les Apt, France
| | - Aline Giacalone
- IRSEA - Institut de Recherche en Sémiochimie et Ethologie Appliquée, Le Rieu Neuf, 84 490 Saint Saturnin Les Apt, France
| | - Claudio Sighieri
- Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiologiche, Università di Pisa, viale delle Piagge 2, 56124 Pisa, Italy
| | - Alessandro Cozzi
- IRSEA - Institut de Recherche en Sémiochimie et Ethologie Appliquée, Le Rieu Neuf, 84 490 Saint Saturnin Les Apt, France
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Shetland ponies (Equus caballus) show quantity discrimination in a matching-to-sample design. Anim Cogn 2014; 17:1233-43. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-014-0753-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2013] [Revised: 04/23/2014] [Accepted: 04/23/2014] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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13
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