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Cognitive bias in animal behavior science: a philosophical perspective. Anim Cogn 2022; 25:975-990. [PMID: 35781584 PMCID: PMC9334413 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01647-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2021] [Revised: 06/08/2022] [Accepted: 06/14/2022] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Emotional states of animals influence their cognitive processes as well as their behavior. Assessing emotional states is important for animal welfare science as well as for many fields of neuroscience, behavior science, and biomedicine. This can be done in different ways, e.g. through assessing animals’ physiological states or interpreting their behaviors. This paper focuses on the so-called cognitive judgment bias test, which has gained special attention in the last 2 decades and has become a highly important tool for measuring emotional states in non-human animals. However, less attention has been given to the epistemology of the cognitive judgment bias test and to disentangling the relevance of different steps in the underlying cognitive mechanisms. This paper sheds some light on both the epistemology of the methods and the architecture of the underlying cognitive abilities of the tested animals. Based on this reconstruction, we propose a scheme for classifying and assessing different cognitive abilities involved in cognitive judgment bias tests.
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Humans and Goats: Improving Knowledge for a Better Relationship. Animals (Basel) 2022; 12:ani12060774. [PMID: 35327171 PMCID: PMC8944699 DOI: 10.3390/ani12060774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2022] [Revised: 03/15/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary A good relationship between humans (e.g., farmers, owners) and farm animals is vital for the well-being of both parties: on the one hand, people are satisfied with their work, which becomes less stressful and more profitable, and may receive social benefits in terms of education or animal-assisted therapy; on the other hand, animals are rewarded by the presence of humans and are not afraid of them. Goats have high cognitive and communicative abilities towards humans: recognising these abilities helps humans to work properly on the quality of this relationship that is built from the first hours of the goat kids’ life, thanks to frequent and positive contacts (e.g., stroking, talking in a calm voice). Improving the quality of this relationship is an investment in the future of livestock farming and meets public demands for ethical and sustainable production. This review outlines the characteristics and predisposing factors for the establishment of a good human–goat relationship and for its evaluation. Abstract There is consensus that the quality of the human–animal relationship (HAR) is relevant to guarantee appropriate levels of animal welfare. Given the impact that HAR may have on both goats and human beings, the aim of the present review is to elucidate: (1) how humans and goats communicate; (2) which are the factors affecting human–goat interactions; (3) how we can measure the quality of this relationship. The systematic review led to the selection of 58 relevant articles. Effective human–goat communication takes place by means of visual, tactile and auditory stimuli and, to a less extent, via olfactory and gustative stimuli. Goats have well-developed socio-cognitive abilities and rely on humans to get relevant information. A deep knowledge of goats’ communication means and socio-cognitive abilities may greatly help improving the human–goat relationship. Management practices (e.g., rearing methods, amount and quality of interactions), as well as genetic selection for suitable individual traits, may contribute to improving HAR. Several measures to assess the quality of HAR have been validated, including avoidance in the pen and at the feeding rack and latency to first contact. Finally, farmers’ attitudes and empathy with goats, as well as their motivation to work with animals, should be improved through appropriate training.
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Jardim V, Verjat A, Féron C, Châline N, Rödel HG. Is there a bias in spatial maze judgment bias tests? Individual differences in subjects' novelty response can affect test results. Behav Brain Res 2021; 407:113262. [PMID: 33775775 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2021.113262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Revised: 02/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/20/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Judgment bias tests have become an important tool in the assessment of animals' affective states. Subjects are first trained to discriminate between two cues associated with a positive and a less-positive outcome. After successful training, they are confronted with an ambiguous cue, and responses are used for judgment bias assessment. In spatial settings, ambiguous cue presentation is typically linked with novelty, i.e. to yet unexplored areas or areas to which the animal has a low degree of habituation. We hypothesized that in such settings, responses to ambiguity might be biased by the animals' perception of novelty. We conducted judgment bias tests in mound-building mice phenotyped for their exploration tendency. After subjects had learned to distinguish between the positively and less-positively rewarded arms of a maze, a new ambiguous middle-arm was introduced. During the first test trial, more exploratory, less neophobic individuals displayed higher bidirectional locomotion in the ambiguous arm, indicating intensive exploration. Although this resulted in longer latencies to the reward in more exploratory animals, we conclude that this did not reflect a 'more pessimistic judgment of ambiguity'. Indeed, during the following two trials, with increasing habituation to the ambiguous arm, the direction of the association was inversed compared to the first trial, as more exploratory individuals showed relatively shorter approach latencies. We suggest that in spatial test settings associating the ambiguous cue to novel areas, results can be confounded by subjects' personality-dependent motivational conflict between exploration and reaching the reward. Findings obtained under such conditions should be interpreted with care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Veridiana Jardim
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée UR 4443 (LEEC), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, F-93430, Villetaneuse, France; Laboratory of Ethology, Ecology and Evolution of Social Insects, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Aurélie Verjat
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée UR 4443 (LEEC), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, F-93430, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Christophe Féron
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée UR 4443 (LEEC), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, F-93430, Villetaneuse, France
| | - Nicolas Châline
- Laboratory of Ethology, Ecology and Evolution of Social Insects, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Heiko G Rödel
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée UR 4443 (LEEC), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, F-93430, Villetaneuse, France.
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Raoult CMC, Osthaus B, Hildebrand ACG, McElligott AG, Nawroth C. Goats show higher behavioural flexibility than sheep in a spatial detour task. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:201627. [PMID: 33959332 PMCID: PMC8074883 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The ability to adapt to changing environments is crucial for survival and has evolved based on socio-ecological factors. Goats and sheep are closely related, with similar social structures, body sizes and domestication levels, but different feeding ecologies, i.e. goats are browsers and sheep are grazers. We investigated whether goats' reliance on more patchily distributed food sources predicted an increased behavioural flexibility compared to sheep. We tested 21 goats and 28 sheep in a spatial A-not-B detour task. Subjects had to navigate around a straight barrier through a gap at its edge. After one, two, three or four of these initial A trials, the gap was moved to the opposite end and subjects performed four B trials. Behaviourally more flexible individuals should move through the new gap faster, while those less behaviourally flexible should show greater perseveration. While both species showed an accuracy reduction following the change of the gap position, goats recovered from this perseveration error from the second B trial onwards, whereas sheep did so only in the fourth B trial, indicating differences in behavioural flexibility between the species. This higher degree of flexibility in goats compared to sheep could be linked to differences in their foraging strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- C. M. C. Raoult
- Animal Husbandry and Animal Ecology, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, 06120 Halle, Germany
- Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, FSVO, Agroscope Tänikon, 8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
| | - B. Osthaus
- School of Psychology and Life Sciences, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK
| | - A. C. G. Hildebrand
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - A. G. McElligott
- Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, People's Republic of China
| | - C. Nawroth
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
- Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, 18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
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5
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Vonk J, McGuire MC, Johnson-Ulrich Z. Bearing fruit: Piloting a novel judgment bias task in an American black bear. Zoo Biol 2020; 40:89-97. [PMID: 33325606 DOI: 10.1002/zoo.21584] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2020] [Revised: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 11/17/2020] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Judgment bias tasks can reveal changes in affect in animals as a function of environmental manipulations such as provision of enrichment. We assessed affect in an American black bear across seasonal changes in availability of a mulberry bush. We used a novel judgment bias task in which the background color of a touchscreen signaled whether the left or right positioned stimulus was correct. The bear learned the conditional rule in which the correct action for the white background (choose left) resulted in three pieces of food and the correct action for the black background (choose right) resulted in one piece of food. On probe trials involving intermediate gray backgrounds, left side responses indicated optimism and right side responses indicated pessimism. Tests took place at the beginning, middle, and end of mulberry season and again nearing the end of the summer and early fall before hibernation. The bear showed the most optimistic responses during the phase involving increased opportunities for foraging on mulberry. A follow-up experiment confirmed that the bear preferred three food items over one food item, suggesting the quantity-based discrimination was in fact salient to this bear. This is the first evidence for conditional discrimination learning in a black bear, validating the task to assess changes in affect.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Vonk
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA
| | - Molly C McGuire
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA
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6
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Whittaker AL, Barker TH. A consideration of the role of biology and test design as confounding factors in judgement bias tests. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2020.105126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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7
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Reward and punisher experience alter rodent decision-making in a judgement bias task. Sci Rep 2020; 10:11839. [PMID: 32678247 PMCID: PMC7366639 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-68737-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2020] [Accepted: 06/08/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The influence of affective states on decision-making is likely to be complex. Negative states resulting from experience of punishing events have been hypothesised to generate enhanced expectations of future punishment and ‘pessimistic’/risk-averse decisions. However, they may also influence how decision-outcomes are valued. Such influences may further depend on whether decisions at hand are germane to the rewards or punishers that induced the affective state in the first place. Here we attempt to dissect these influences by presenting either many or few rewards or punishers of different types (sucrose vs air-puff; 50 kHz vs 22 kHz ultrasonic vocalisations) to rats, and investigating their subsequent decisions in a judgement bias task that employed sucrose and air-puff as decision outcomes. Rats that received many sucrose pellets prior to testing were more risk-averse than those receiving many air-puffs. Ultrasonic vocalisations did not alter decision-making. Computational analysis revealed a higher weighting of punishers relative to rewards (in agreement with findings from a separate behavioural task) and a bias towards the risk-averse response following pre-test sucrose compared to pre-test air-puff. Thus, in this study reward and punisher manipulation of affective state appeared to alter decision-making by influencing both expectation and valuation of decision-outcomes in a domain-specific way.
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Pharmacologically-induced stress has minimal impact on judgement and attention biases in sheep. Sci Rep 2019; 9:11446. [PMID: 31391491 PMCID: PMC6686049 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-47691-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2019] [Accepted: 07/22/2019] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The emotional impact of exposure to stressors has not been well quantified in animals. We hypothesised that exogenous induction of stress in sheep would induce a pessimistic judgement bias and increased attention towards a threatening stimulus, suggestive of a negative emotional state. Stress was induced pharmacologically by administering synthetic adrenocorticotropic hormone. Judgement bias was assessed using a spatial go/no-go task after exposure to acute stress (one injection), chronic stress (21 daily injections) and acute-on-chronic stress (2 min isolation after 28 daily injections). Attention bias was assessed during chronic stress only (22 daily injections). In contrast with our hypotheses, there was no strong evidence that Synacthen administration altered judgement bias or attention bias at any stage of the experiment. Stressed sheep were more likely to approach ambiguous locations than saline Control animals, however, statistical evidence for models fitting treatment group was very weak. Overall, our findings suggest that elevated levels of cortisol may not fully explain changes to judgement bias observed in previous studies after environmentally-induced stress. Further studies are required to better understand which aspects of environmentally-induced stress alter judgement bias and to further validate cognitive methods of assessing affect in sheep.
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Cognitive Bias in Zoo Animals: An Optimistic Outlook for Welfare Assessment. Animals (Basel) 2018; 8:ani8070104. [PMID: 29954151 PMCID: PMC6071086 DOI: 10.3390/ani8070104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2018] [Revised: 06/25/2018] [Accepted: 06/26/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive bias testing measures how emotional states can affect cognitive processes, often described using the “glass half-full/half-empty” paradigm. Classical or operant conditioning is used to measure responses to ambiguous cues, and it has been reported across many species and contexts that an animal’s cognitive bias can be directly linked to welfare state, e.g., those in better welfare make more optimistic judgements. Cognitive bias testing has only recently been applied to animals and represents a key milestone in welfare science: it is currently one of the only accurate methods available to measure welfare. The tests have been conducted on many farm, laboratory, and companion animal species, but have only been carried out in zoo settings a handful of times. The aims of this review are to evaluate the feasibility of cognitive bias testing in zoos and its potential as a tool for studying zoo animal welfare. The few existing zoo cognitive bias studies are reviewed, as well as those conducted on similar, non-domesticated species. This work is then used to discuss how tests could be successfully designed and executed in zoo settings, which types of tests are most appropriate in different contexts, and how the data could be used to improve animal welfare. The review closely examines the many variables are present in the zoo which cannot be controlled as in other settings, termed here the Zoo Environment (ZE) Variables. It is recommended that tests are developed after consideration of each of the ZE Variables, and through strong collaboration between zookeepers, managers, and academic institutions. There is much unexplored potential of cognitive bias testing in the zoo setting, not least its use in investigating animal welfare in zoos. It is hoped that this review will stimulate increased interest in this topic from zoo managers, scientists, and industry regulators alike.
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10
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McGuire MC, Johnson-Ulrich Z, Robeson A, Zeigler-Hill V, Vonk J. I say thee “neigh”: Rescued equids are optimistic in a judgment bias test. J Vet Behav 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2018.03.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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Barker TH, Kind KL, Groves PD, Howarth GS, Whittaker AL. Oestrous phase cyclicity influences judgment biasing in rats. Behav Processes 2018; 157:678-684. [PMID: 29653156 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.03.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2017] [Revised: 03/20/2018] [Accepted: 03/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
The identification of cognitive bias has become an important measure of animal welfare. Negative cognitive biases develop from a tendency for animals to process novel information pessimistically. Judgment-bias testing is the commonplace methodology to detect cognitive biases. However, concerns with these methods have been frequently-reported; one of which being the discrepancy between male and female cognitive expression. The current study assessed the factors of social status and oestrus, to investigate whether oestrous cycle rotation, or subordination stress encouraged an increase in pessimistic responses. Female Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 24) were trained on an active-choice judgment bias paradigm. Responses to the ambiguous probe were recorded as optimistic or pessimistic. Oestrous phase was determined by assessing vaginal cytology in stained vaginal cell smears. Rats in the dioestrous phase and those rats considered to be subordinate demonstrated an increased percentage of pessimistic responses. However, no interaction between these factors was observed. This suggests that oestrous cyclicity can influence the judgment biases of female animals; a previously unreported finding. On this basis, researchers should be encouraged to account for both oestrous phase cyclicity and social status as an additional fixed effect in study design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Timothy Hugh Barker
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, South Australia, Australia.
| | - Karen Lee Kind
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, South Australia, Australia
| | - Peta Danielle Groves
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, South Australia, Australia
| | - Gordon Stanley Howarth
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, South Australia, Australia; Gastroenterology Department, Children, Youth and Women's Health Service, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Alexandra Louise Whittaker
- School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy, South Australia, Australia
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12
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Environmental complexity buffers against stress-induced negative judgement bias in female chickens. Sci Rep 2018; 8:5404. [PMID: 29599444 PMCID: PMC5876351 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-23545-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2017] [Accepted: 03/13/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive processes are often biased by emotions. In humans, affective disorders are accompanied by pessimistic judgement, while optimistic judgement is linked to emotional stability. Similar to humans, animals tend to interpret ambiguous stimuli negatively after experiencing stressful events, although the long-lasting impact on judgement bias has rarely been investigated. We measure judgement bias in female chicks (Gallus gallus domesticus) after exposure to cold stress, and before and after exposure to additional unpredictable stressors. Additionally, we explore if brain monoamines can explain differences in judgement bias. Chicks exposed to cold stress did not differ in judgement bias compared to controls, but showed sensitivity to additional stressors by having higher motivation for social reinstatement. Environmental complexity reduced stress-induced negative judgement bias, by maintaining an optimistic bias in individuals housed in complex conditions even after stress exposure. Moreover, judgement bias was related to dopamine turnover rate in mesencephalon, with higher activity in individuals that had a more optimistic response. These results demonstrate that environmental complexity can buffer against negative effects of additive stress and that dopamine relates to judgement bias in chicks. These results reveal that both internal and external factors can mediate emotionally biased judgement in animals, thus showing similarities to findings in humans.
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13
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Nawroth C, Brett JM, McElligott AG. Goats display audience-dependent human-directed gazing behaviour in a problem-solving task. Biol Lett 2017; 12:rsbl.2016.0283. [PMID: 27381884 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2016.0283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2016] [Accepted: 06/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Domestication is an important factor driving changes in animal cognition and behaviour. In particular, the capacity of dogs to communicate in a referential and intentional way with humans is considered a key outcome of how domestication as a companion animal shaped the canid brain. However, the lack of comparison with other domestic animals makes general conclusions about how domestication has affected these important cognitive features difficult. We investigated human-directed behaviour in an 'unsolvable problem' task in a domestic, but non-companion species: goats. During the test, goats experienced a forward-facing or an away-facing person. They gazed towards the forward-facing person earlier and for longer and showed more gaze alternations and a lower latency until the first gaze alternation when the person was forward-facing. Our results provide strong evidence for audience-dependent human-directed visual orienting behaviour in a species that was domesticated primarily for production, and show similarities with the referential and intentional communicative behaviour exhibited by domestic companion animals such as dogs and horses. This indicates that domestication has a much broader impact on heterospecific communication than previously believed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Nawroth
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Jemma M Brett
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Alan G McElligott
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
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14
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Roelofs S, Nordquist RE, van der Staay FJ. Female and male pigs’ performance in a spatial holeboard and judgment bias task. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.01.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
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15
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Barker T, Bobrovskaya L, Howarth G, Whittaker A. Female rats display fewer optimistic responses in a judgment bias test in the absence of a physiological stress response. Physiol Behav 2017; 173:124-131. [DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.02.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2016] [Revised: 01/19/2017] [Accepted: 02/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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16
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Pitcher BJ, Briefer EF, Baciadonna L, McElligott AG. Cross-modal recognition of familiar conspecifics in goats. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2017; 4:160346. [PMID: 28386412 PMCID: PMC5367292 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2016] [Accepted: 01/13/2017] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
When identifying other individuals, animals may match current cues with stored information about that individual from the same sensory modality. Animals may also be able to combine current information with previously acquired information from other sensory modalities, indicating that they possess complex cognitive templates of individuals that are independent of modality. We investigated whether goats (Capra hircus) possess cross-modal representations (auditory-visual) of conspecifics. We presented subjects with recorded conspecific calls broadcast equidistant between two individuals, one of which was the caller. We found that, when presented with a stablemate and another herd member, goats looked towards the caller sooner and for longer than the non-caller, regardless of caller identity. By contrast, when choosing between two herd members, other than their stablemate, goats did not show a preference to look towards the caller. Goats show cross-modal recognition of close social partners, but not of less familiar herd members. Goats may employ inferential reasoning when identifying conspecifics, potentially facilitating individual identification based on incomplete information. Understanding the prevalence of cross-modal recognition and the degree to which different sensory modalities are integrated provides insight into how animals learn about other individuals, and the evolution of animal communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J. Pitcher
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109 New South Wales, Australia
| | - Elodie F. Briefer
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
- Institute of Agricultural Sciences, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Luigi Baciadonna
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
| | - Alan G. McElligott
- Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS, UK
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17
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Do horses with poor welfare show 'pessimistic' cognitive biases? Naturwissenschaften 2017; 104:8. [PMID: 28083632 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-016-1429-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2016] [Revised: 12/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/19/2016] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
This field study tested the hypothesis that domestic horses living under putatively challenging-to-welfare conditions (for example involving social, spatial, feeding constraints) would present signs of poor welfare and co-occurring pessimistic judgement biases. Our subjects were 34 horses who had been housed for over 3 years in either restricted riding school situations (e.g. kept in single boxes, with limited roughage, ridden by inexperienced riders; N = 25) or under more naturalistic conditions (e.g. access to free-range, kept in stable social groups, leisure riding; N = 9). The horses' welfare was assessed by recording health-related, behavioural and postural indicators. Additionally, after learning a location task to discriminate a bucket containing either edible food ('positive' location) or unpalatable food ('negative' location), the horses were presented with a bucket located near the positive position, near the negative position and halfway between the positive and negative positions to assess their judgement biases. The riding school horses displayed the highest levels of behavioural and health-related problems and a pessimistic judgment bias, whereas the horses living under more naturalistic conditions displayed indications of good welfare and an optimistic bias. Moreover, pessimistic bias data strongly correlated with poor welfare data. This suggests that a lowered mood impacts a non-human species' perception of its environment and highlights cognitive biases as an appropriate tool to assess the impact of chronic living conditions on horse welfare.
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18
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Papciak J, Rygula R. Measuring Cognitive Judgement Bias in Rats Using the Ambiguous-Cue Interpretation Test. CURRENT PROTOCOLS IN NEUROSCIENCE 2017; 78:9.57.1-9.57.22. [PMID: 28046201 DOI: 10.1002/cpns.19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
An active-choice, operant, ambiguous-cue interpretation (ACI) paradigm is described that can be used for measuring cognitive judgement bias in rats. In this behavioral test, animals in an operant conditioning chamber are trained to press a lever to receive a food reward when a specific tone is presented, and to press another lever in response to a different tone to avoid punishment by an electric foot-shock. The tones, which serve as discriminative stimuli, acquire a positive or negative valence, and the training continues until the rats demonstrate a stable, correct discrimination between these two stimuli. The animals are tested after they have attained stable discrimination performance. The ambiguous-cue test consists of a discrimination task, as described above, but includes the presentation of additional tones with frequencies that are intermediate between the trained positive and negative tones. The lever-press response pattern to these ambiguous cues is considered an indicator of the rat's expectation of a positive or negative event; in other words, it is a measure of 'optimism' or 'pessimism', respectively. © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justyna Papciak
- Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience and Drug Development, Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Krakow, Poland
- Currently at School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Rafal Rygula
- Institute of Pharmacology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Department of Behavioral Neuroscience and Drug Development, Affective Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Krakow, Poland
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Nawroth C, Baciadonna L, McElligott AG. Goats learn socially from humans in a spatial problem-solving task. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.09.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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Baciadonna L, Nawroth C, McElligott AG. Judgement bias in goats ( Capra hircus): investigating the effects of human grooming. PeerJ 2016; 4:e2485. [PMID: 27761311 PMCID: PMC5068416 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.2485] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2016] [Accepted: 08/24/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal emotional states can be investigated by evaluating their impact on cognitive processes. In this study, we used a judgement bias paradigm to determine if short-term positive human-animal interaction (grooming) induced a positive affective state in goats. We tested two groups of goats and trained them to discriminate between a rewarded and a non-rewarded location over nine training days. During training, the experimental group (n = 9) was gently groomed by brushing their heads and backs for five min over 11 days (nine training days, plus two testing days, total time 55 min). During training, the control group (n = 10) did not experience any direct interaction with the experimenter, but was kept unconstrained next to him for the same period of time. After successful completion of the training, the responses (latency time) of the two groups to reach ambiguous locations situated between the two reference locations (i.e., rewarded/non-rewarded) were compared over two days of testing. There was not a positive bias effect after the animals had been groomed. In a second experiment, 10 goats were tested to investigate whether grooming induced changes in physiological activation (i.e., heart rate and heart rate variability). Heart rate increased when goats were groomed compared to the baseline condition, when the same goats did not receive any contact with the experimenter. Also, subjects did not move away from the experimenter, suggesting that the grooming was positively accepted. The very good care and the regular positive contacts that goats received from humans at the study site could potentially account for the results obtained. Good husbandry outcomes are influenced by animals' perception of the events and this is based on current circumstances, past experiences and individual variables. Taking into account animals' individual characteristics and identifying effective strategies to induce positive emotions could increase the understanding and reliability of using cognitive biases paradigms to investigate and promote animal welfare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luigi Baciadonna
- Queen Mary University of London, Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences , London , UK
| | - Christian Nawroth
- Queen Mary University of London, Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences , London , UK
| | - Alan G McElligott
- Queen Mary University of London, Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences , London , UK
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Kasbaoui N, Cooper J, Mills DS, Burman O. Effects of Long-Term Exposure to an Electronic Containment System on the Behaviour and Welfare of Domestic Cats. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0162073. [PMID: 27602572 PMCID: PMC5014424 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0162073] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2016] [Accepted: 08/17/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Free-roaming cats are exposed to a variety of risks, including involvement in road traffic accidents. One way of mitigating these risks is to contain cats, for example using an electronic boundary fence system that delivers an electric ‘correction’ via a collar if a cat ignores a warning cue and attempts to cross the boundary. However, concerns have been expressed over the welfare impact of such systems. Our aim was to determine if long-term exposure to an electronic containment system was associated with reduced cat welfare. We compared 46 owned domestic cats: 23 cats that had been contained by an electronic containment system for more than 12 months (AF group); and 23 cats with no containment system that were able to roam more widely (C group). We assessed the cats’ behavioural responses and welfare via four behavioural tests (unfamiliar person test; novel object test; sudden noise test; cognitive bias test) and an owner questionnaire. In the unfamiliar person test, C group lip-licked more than the AF group, whilst the AF group looked at, explored and interacted more with the unfamiliar person than C group. In the novel object test, the AF group looked at and explored the object more than C group. No significant differences were found between AF and C groups for the sudden noise or cognitive bias tests. Regarding the questionnaire, C group owners thought their cats showed more irritable behaviour and AF owners thought that their cats toileted inappropriately more often than C owners. Overall, AF cats were less neophobic than C cats and there was no evidence of significant differences between the populations in general affective state. These findings indicate that an electronic boundary fence with clear pre-warning cues does not impair the long term quality of life of cats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Naïma Kasbaoui
- Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Research Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 7DL, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Jonathan Cooper
- Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Research Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 7DL, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel S. Mills
- Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Research Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 7DL, United Kingdom
| | - Oliver Burman
- Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Research Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincolnshire, LN6 7DL, United Kingdom
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Nawroth C, Prentice PM, McElligott AG. Individual personality differences in goats predict their performance in visual learning and non-associative cognitive tasks. Behav Processes 2016; 134:43-53. [PMID: 27514774 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2016.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2016] [Revised: 07/30/2016] [Accepted: 08/01/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Variation in common personality traits, such as boldness or exploration, is often associated with risk-reward trade-offs and behavioural flexibility. To date, only a few studies have examined the effects of consistent behavioural traits on both learning and cognition. We investigated whether certain personality traits ('exploration' and 'sociability') of individuals were related to cognitive performance, learning flexibility and learning style in a social ungulate species, the goat (Capra hircus). We also investigated whether a preference for feature cues rather than impaired learning abilities can explain performance variation in a visual discrimination task. We found that personality scores were consistent across time and context. Less explorative goats performed better in a non-associative cognitive task, in which subjects had to follow the trajectory of a hidden object (i.e. testing their ability for object permanence). We also found that less sociable subjects performed better compared to more sociable goats in a visual discrimination task. Good visual learning performance was associated with a preference for feature cues, indicating personality-dependent learning strategies in goats. Our results suggest that personality traits predict the outcome in visual discrimination and non-associative cognitive tasks in goats and that impaired performance in a visual discrimination tasks does not necessarily imply impaired learning capacities, but rather can be explained by a varying preference for feature cues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Nawroth
- Queen Mary University of London, Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, London, UK.
| | - Pamela M Prentice
- University of Edinburgh, Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Alan G McElligott
- Queen Mary University of London, Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, London, UK.
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Roelofs S, Boleij H, Nordquist RE, van der Staay FJ. Making Decisions under Ambiguity: Judgment Bias Tasks for Assessing Emotional State in Animals. Front Behav Neurosci 2016; 10:119. [PMID: 27375454 PMCID: PMC4899464 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2016.00119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 129] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2016] [Accepted: 05/25/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Judgment bias tasks (JBTs) are considered as a family of promising tools in the assessment of emotional states of animals. JBTs provide a cognitive measure of optimism and/or pessimism by recording behavioral responses to ambiguous stimuli. For instance, a negative emotional state is expected to produce a negative or pessimistic judgment of an ambiguous stimulus, whereas a positive emotional state produces a positive or optimistic judgment of the same ambiguous stimulus. Measuring an animal's emotional state or mood is relevant in both animal welfare research and biomedical research. This is reflected in the increasing use of JBTs in both research areas. We discuss the different implementations of JBTs with animals, with a focus on their potential as an accurate measure of emotional state. JBTs have been successfully applied to a very broad range of species, using many different types of testing equipment and experimental protocols. However, further validation of this test is deemed necessary. For example, the often extensive training period required for successful judgment bias testing remains a possible factor confounding results. Also, the issue of ambiguous stimuli losing their ambiguity with repeated testing requires additional attention. Possible improvements are suggested to further develop the JBTs in both animal welfare and biomedical research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sanne Roelofs
- Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Behavior and Welfare Group (Formerly Emotion and Cognition Group), Utrecht University Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - Hetty Boleij
- Department of Animals in Science and Society, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Division of Laboratory Animal Science, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands; Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
| | - Rebecca E Nordquist
- Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Behavior and Welfare Group (Formerly Emotion and Cognition Group), Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands; Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
| | - Franz Josef van der Staay
- Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Behavior and Welfare Group (Formerly Emotion and Cognition Group), Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands; Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Utrecht UniversityUtrecht, Netherlands
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24
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Barker T, Howarth G, Whittaker A. The effects of metabolic cage housing and sex on cognitive bias expression in rats. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2016.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
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25
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Effect of gender and halothane genotype on cognitive bias and its relationship with fear in pigs. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2016.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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26
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Löckener S, Reese S, Erhard M, Wöhr AC. Pasturing in herds after housing in horseboxes induces a positive cognitive bias in horses. J Vet Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2015.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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27
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Autonomic nervous system reactivity in a free-ranging mammal: effects of dominance rank and personality. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.09.022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
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Bethell EJ. A “How-To” Guide for Designing Judgment Bias Studies to Assess Captive Animal Welfare. J APPL ANIM WELF SCI 2015; 18 Suppl 1:S18-42. [DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2015.1075833] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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McGuire MC, Williams KL, Welling LLM, Vonk J. Cognitive bias in rats is not influenced by oxytocin. Front Psychol 2015; 6:1306. [PMID: 26388811 PMCID: PMC4557065 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01306] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2015] [Accepted: 08/17/2015] [Indexed: 01/19/2023] Open
Abstract
The effect of oxytocin on cognitive bias was investigated in rats in a modified conditioned place preference paradigm. Fifteen male rats were trained to discriminate between two different cue combinations, one paired with palatable foods (reward training), and the other paired with unpalatable food (aversive training). Next, their reactions to two ambiguous cue combinations were evaluated and their latency to contact the goal pot recorded. Rats were injected with either oxytocin (OT) or saline with the prediction that rats administered OT would display a shorter average latency to approach on ambiguous trials. There was no significant difference between latencies to approach on ambiguous trials compared to reward trials, but the rats were significantly slower on the aversive compared to the ambiguous conditions. Oxytocin did not affect approach time; however, it was unclear, after follow-up testing, whether the OT doses tested were sufficient to produce the desired effects on cognitive bias. Future research should consider this possibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Molly C McGuire
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University , Rochester, MI, USA
| | - Keith L Williams
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University , Rochester, MI, USA
| | - Lisa L M Welling
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University , Rochester, MI, USA
| | - Jennifer Vonk
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University , Rochester, MI, USA
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Clay Z, Archbold J, Zuberbühler K. Functional flexibility in wild bonobo vocal behaviour. PeerJ 2015; 3:e1124. [PMID: 26290789 PMCID: PMC4540007 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.1124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2015] [Accepted: 07/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
A shared principle in the evolution of language and the development of speech is the emergence of functional flexibility, the capacity of vocal signals to express a range of emotional states independently of context and biological function. Functional flexibility has recently been demonstrated in the vocalisations of pre-linguistic human infants, which has been contrasted to the functionally fixed vocal behaviour of non-human primates. Here, we revisited the presumed chasm in functional flexibility between human and non-human primate vocal behaviour, with a study on our closest living primate relatives, the bonobo (Pan paniscus). We found that wild bonobos use a specific call type (the "peep") across a range of contexts that cover the full valence range (positive-neutral-negative) in much of their daily activities, including feeding, travel, rest, aggression, alarm, nesting and grooming. Peeps were produced in functionally flexible ways in some contexts, but not others. Crucially, calls did not vary acoustically between neutral and positive contexts, suggesting that recipients take pragmatic information into account to make inferences about call meaning. In comparison, peeps during negative contexts were acoustically distinct. Our data suggest that the capacity for functional flexibility has evolutionary roots that predate the evolution of human speech. We interpret this evidence as an example of an evolutionary early transition away from fixed vocal signalling towards functional flexibility.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zanna Clay
- School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
| | - Jahmaira Archbold
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
| | - Klaus Zuberbühler
- Department of Comparative Cognition, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchatel, Neuchatel, Switzerland
- School of Psychology & Neurosciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife, UK
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31
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Bethell EJ, Koyama NF. Happy hamsters? Enrichment induces positive judgement bias for mildly (but not truly) ambiguous cues to reward and punishment in Mesocricetus auratus. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2015; 2:140399. [PMID: 26587255 PMCID: PMC4632568 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.140399] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2014] [Accepted: 07/03/2015] [Indexed: 05/07/2023]
Abstract
Recent developments in the study of animal cognition and emotion have resulted in the 'judgement bias' model of animal welfare. Judgement biases describe the way in which changes in affective state are characterized by changes in information processing. In humans, anxiety and depression are characterized by increased expectation of negative events and negative interpretation of ambiguous information. Positive wellbeing is associated with enhanced expectation of positive outcomes and more positive interpretation of ambiguous information. Mood-congruent judgement biases for ambiguous information have been demonstrated in a range of animal species, with large variation in the way tests are administered and in the robustness of analyses. We highlight and address some issues using a laboratory species not previously tested: the Syrian hamster (Mesocricetus auratus). Hamsters were tested using a spatial judgement go/no-go task in enriched and unenriched housing. We included a number of controls and additional behavioural tests and applied a robust analytical approach using linear mixed effects models. Hamsters approached the ambiguous cues significantly more often when enriched than unenriched. There was no effect of enrichment on responses to the middle cue. We discuss these findings in light of mechanisms underlying processing cues to reward, punishment and true ambiguity, and the implications for the welfare of laboratory hamsters.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily J. Bethell
- School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK
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32
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Acute stress enhances sensitivity to a highly attractive food reward without affecting judgement bias in laying hens. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2014.12.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
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Briefer EF, Tettamanti F, McElligott AG. Emotions in goats: mapping physiological, behavioural and vocal profiles. Anim Behav 2015. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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35
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Briefer Freymond S, Briefer EF, Zollinger A, Gindrat-von Allmen Y, Wyss C, Bachmann I. Behaviour of horses in a judgment bias test associated with positive or negative reinforcement. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2014. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2014.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
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36
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Housing conditions affect rat responses to two types of ambiguity in a reward-reward discrimination cognitive bias task. Behav Brain Res 2014; 274:73-83. [PMID: 25106739 PMCID: PMC4199117 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.07.048] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2014] [Revised: 07/25/2014] [Accepted: 07/28/2014] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
We investigated how an unpredictable housing treatment (UHT) influenced measures of rat affect. Control rats showed more anxiety-like behaviour in open-field and elevated plus maze tests than UHT rats. Controls also made more ‘pessimistic’ decisions in an automated cognitive bias task. Our go/go reward–reward task was learnt faster than previous automated go/go tasks. We developed a new ambiguity test that may probe biases in attentional processes.
Decision-making under ambiguity in cognitive bias tasks is a promising new indicator of affective valence in animals. Rat studies support the hypothesis that animals in a negative affective state evaluate ambiguous cues negatively. Prior automated operant go/go judgement bias tasks have involved training rats that an auditory cue of one frequency predicts a Reward and a cue of a different frequency predicts a Punisher (RP task), and then measuring whether ambiguous cues of intermediate frequency are judged as predicting reward (‘optimism’) or punishment (‘pessimism’). We investigated whether an automated Reward–Reward (RR) task yielded similar results to, and was faster to train than, RP tasks. We also introduced a new ambiguity test (simultaneous presentation of the two training cues) alongside the standard single ambiguous cue test. Half of the rats experienced an unpredictable housing treatment (UHT) designed to induce a negative state. Control rats were relatively ‘pessimistic’, whilst UHT rats were quicker, but no less accurate, in their responses in the RR test, and showed less anxiety-like behaviour in independent tests. A possible reason for these findings is that rats adapted to and were stimulated by UHT, whilst control rats in a predictable environment were more sensitive to novelty and change. Responses in the new ambiguity test correlated positively with those in single ambiguous cue tests, and may provide a measure of attention bias. The RR task was quicker to train than previous automated RP tasks. Together, they could be used to disentangle how reward and punishment processes underpin affect-induced cognitive biases.
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Chojnacki RM, Vas J, Andersen IL. The effects of prenatal stocking densities on the fear responses and sociality of goat (Capra hircus) kids. PLoS One 2014; 9:e94253. [PMID: 24710177 PMCID: PMC3978004 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2013] [Accepted: 03/13/2014] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Prenatal stress (stress experienced by a pregnant mother) and its effects on offspring have been comprehensively studied but relatively little research has been done on how prenatal social stress affects farm animals such as goats. Here, we use the operational description of ‘stress’ as “physical or perceived threats to homeostasis.” The aim of this study was to investigate the prenatal effects of different herd densities on the fear responses and sociality of goat kids. Pregnant Norwegian dairy goats were exposed to high, medium or low prenatal animal density treatments throughout gestation (1.0, 2.0 or 3.0 m2 per animal, respectively). One kid per litter was subjected to two behavioral tests at 5 weeks of age. The ‘social test’ was applied to assess the fear responses, sociality and social recognition skills when presented with a familiar and unfamiliar kid and the ‘separation test’ assessed the behavioral coping skills when isolated. The results indicate goat kids from the highest prenatal density of 1.0 m2 were more fearful than the kids from the lower prenatal densities (i.e. made more escape attempts (separation test: P < 0.001) and vocalizations (social test: P < 0.001; separation test: P < 0.001). This effect was more pronounced in females than males in the high density (vocalizations; social test: P < 0.001; separation test: P = 0.001) and females were generally more social than males. However, goat kids did not differentiate between a familiar and an unfamiliar kid at 5 weeks of age and sociality was not affected by the prenatal density treatment. We conclude that high animal densities during pregnancy in goats produce offspring that have a higher level of fear, particularly in females. Behavioral changes in offspring that occur as an effect of prenatal stress are of high importance as many of the females are recruited to the breeding stock of dairy goats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel M. Chojnacki
- Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
- * E-mail:
| | - Judit Vas
- Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
| | - Inger Lise Andersen
- Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway
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Nawroth C, von Borell E, Langbein J. Exclusion performance in dwarf goats (Capra aegagrus hircus) and sheep (Ovis orientalis aries). PLoS One 2014; 9:e93534. [PMID: 24695781 PMCID: PMC3973590 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0093534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2013] [Accepted: 03/04/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Using a comparative approach, we investigated the ability of dwarf goats and sheep to use direct and indirect information about the location of a food reward in an object-choice task. Subjects had to choose between two cups with only one covering a reward. Before making a choice, subjects received information about the baited (direct information) or non-baited cup (indirect information). Both goats and sheep were able to use direct information (presence of food) in the object choice task. After controlling for local enhancement, we found that goats rather than sheep were able to use indirect information (i.e., the absence of food) to find a reward. The actual test setup could not clarify whether individual goats were able to inferentially reason about the content of the baited cup when only shown the content of the non-baited cup or if they simply avoided the empty cup in that situation. As browsing species, feral and wild goats exhibit highly selective feeding behaviour compared to the rather unselective grazing sheep. The potential influence of this species-specific foraging flexibility of goats and sheep for using direct and indirect information to find a food reward is discussed in relation to a higher aversion to losses in food acquisition in goats compared to sheep.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Nawroth
- Department of Animal Husbandry and Ecology, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University, Halle, Germany
| | - Eberhard von Borell
- Department of Animal Husbandry and Ecology, Institute of Agricultural and Nutritional Sciences, Martin-Luther-University, Halle, Germany
| | - Jan Langbein
- Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, Dummerstorf, Germany
- * E-mail:
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39
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Goats excel at learning and remembering a highly novel cognitive task. Front Zool 2014; 11:20. [PMID: 24666734 PMCID: PMC3987177 DOI: 10.1186/1742-9994-11-20] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2013] [Accepted: 02/19/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction The computational demands of sociality (maintaining group cohesion, reducing conflict) and ecological problems (extractive foraging, memorizing resource locations) are the main drivers proposed to explain the evolution cognition. Different predictions follow, about whether animals would preferentially learn new tasks socially or not, but the prevalent view today is that intelligent species should excel at social learning. However, the predictions were originally used to explain primate cognition, and studies of species with relatively smaller brains are rare. By contrast, domestication has often led to a decrease in brain size, which could affect cognition. In domestic animals, the relaxed selection pressures compared to a wild environment could have led to reduced social and physical cognition. Goats possess several features commonly associated with advanced cognition, such as successful colonization of new environments and complex fission-fusion societies. Here, we assessed goat social and physical cognition as well as long-term memory of a complex two-step foraging task (food box cognitive challenge), in order to investigate some of the main selection pressures thought to affect the evolution of ungulate cognition. Results The majority of trained goats (9/12) successfully learned the task quickly; on average, within 12 trials. After intervals of up to 10 months, they solved the task within two minutes, indicating excellent long-term memory. The goats did not learn the task faster after observing a demonstrator than if they did not have that opportunity. This indicates that they learned through individual rather than social learning. Conclusions The individual learning abilities and long-term memory of goats highlighted in our study suggest that domestication has not affected goat physical cognition. However, these cognitive abilities contrast with the apparent lack of social learning, suggesting that relatively intelligent species do not always preferentially learn socially. We propose that goat cognition, and maybe more generally ungulate cognition, is mainly driven by the need to forage efficiently in harsh environments and feed on plants that are difficult to access and to process, more than by the computational demands of sociality. Our results could also explain why goats are so successful at colonizing new environments.
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Vögeli S, Lutz J, Wolf M, Wechsler B, Gygax L. Valence of physical stimuli, not housing conditions, affects behaviour and frontal cortical brain activity in sheep. Behav Brain Res 2014; 267:144-55. [PMID: 24681090 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2014.03.036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2013] [Revised: 03/17/2014] [Accepted: 03/18/2014] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Modulation of short-term emotions by long-term mood is little understood but relevant to understand the affective system and of importance in respect to animal welfare: a negative mood might taint experiences, whilst a positive mood might alleviate single negative events. To induce different mood states in sheep housing conditions were varied. Fourteen ewes were group-housed in an unpredictable, stimulus-poor and 15 ewes in a predictable, stimulus-rich environment. Sheep were tested individually for mood in a behavioural cognitive bias paradigm. Also, their reactions to three physical stimuli thought to differ in their perceived valence were observed (negative: pricking, intermediate: slight pressure, positive: kneading). General behaviour, activity, ear movements and positions, and haemodynamic changes in the cortical brain were recorded during stimulations. Generalised mixed-effects models and model probabilities based on the BIC (Bayesian information criterion) were used. Only weak evidence for mood difference was found. Sheep from the unpredictable, stimulus-poor housing condition had a somewhat more negative cognitive bias, showed slightly more aversive behaviour, were slightly more active and moved their ears somewhat more. Sheep most clearly differentiated the negative from the intermediate and positive stimulus in that they exhibited more aversive behaviour, less nibbling, were more active, showed more ear movements, more forward ear postures, fewer backward ear postures, and a stronger decrease in deoxyhaemoglobin when subjected to the negative stimulus. In conclusion, sheep reacted towards stimuli according to their presumed valence but their mood was not strongly influenced by housing conditions. Therefore, behavioural reactions and cortical brain activity towards the stimuli were hardly modulated by housing conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Vögeli
- Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Agroscope, Institute for Livestock Sciences, Tänikon, CH-8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland; Animal Behaviour, Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Janika Lutz
- Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Agroscope, Institute for Livestock Sciences, Tänikon, CH-8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland; Animal Behaviour, Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Martin Wolf
- Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, Division of Neonatology, University Hospital Zurich, Frauenklinikstrasse 10, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Beat Wechsler
- Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Agroscope, Institute for Livestock Sciences, Tänikon, CH-8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland
| | - Lorenz Gygax
- Centre for Proper Housing of Ruminants and Pigs, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office FSVO, Agroscope, Institute for Livestock Sciences, Tänikon, CH-8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland.
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Baciadonna L, McElligott AG, Briefer EF. Goats favour personal over social information in an experimental foraging task. PeerJ 2013; 1:e172. [PMID: 24109556 PMCID: PMC3792185 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2013] [Accepted: 09/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals can use their environments more efficiently by selecting particular sources of information (personal or social), according to specific situations. Group-living animals may benefit from gaining information based on the behaviour of other individuals. Indeed, social information is assumed to be faster and less costly to use than personal information, thus increasing foraging efficiency. However, when food sources change seasonally or are randomly distributed, individual information may become more reliable than social information. The aim of this study was to test the use of conflicting personal versus social information in goats (Capra hircus), in a foraging task. We found that goats relied more on personal than social information, when both types of information were available and in conflict. No effect of social rank was found on the occasions when goats followed other demonstrator goats. Goats are selective browsers/grazers and therefore relying on personal rather than social information could be the most efficient way to find patchily distributed resources in highly variable environments. Studies testing specific assumptions regarding the use of different sources of information can extend our understanding of decision making, including observed patterns of social learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luigi Baciadonna
- Queen Mary University of London, Biological and Experimental Psychology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences , London , UK
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