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Gencturk S, Unal G. Rodent tests of depression and anxiety: Construct validity and translational relevance. COGNITIVE, AFFECTIVE & BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 24:191-224. [PMID: 38413466 PMCID: PMC11039509 DOI: 10.3758/s13415-024-01171-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
Behavioral testing constitutes the primary method to measure the emotional states of nonhuman animals in preclinical research. Emerging as the characteristic tool of the behaviorist school of psychology, behavioral testing of animals, particularly rodents, is employed to understand the complex cognitive and affective symptoms of neuropsychiatric disorders. Following the symptom-based diagnosis model of the DSM, rodent models and tests of depression and anxiety focus on behavioral patterns that resemble the superficial symptoms of these disorders. While these practices provided researchers with a platform to screen novel antidepressant and anxiolytic drug candidates, their construct validity-involving relevant underlying mechanisms-has been questioned. In this review, we present the laboratory procedures used to assess depressive- and anxiety-like behaviors in rats and mice. These include constructs that rely on stress-triggered responses, such as behavioral despair, and those that emerge with nonaversive training, such as cognitive bias. We describe the specific behavioral tests that are used to assess these constructs and discuss the criticisms on their theoretical background. We review specific concerns about the construct validity and translational relevance of individual behavioral tests, outline the limitations of the traditional, symptom-based interpretation, and introduce novel, ethologically relevant frameworks that emphasize simple behavioral patterns. Finally, we explore behavioral monitoring and morphological analysis methods that can be integrated into behavioral testing and discuss how they can enhance the construct validity of these tests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sinem Gencturk
- Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Boğaziçi University, 34342, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Gunes Unal
- Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Boğaziçi University, 34342, Istanbul, Turkey.
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2
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Babington S, Tilbrook AJ, Maloney SK, Fernandes JN, Crowley TM, Ding L, Fox AH, Zhang S, Kho EA, Cozzolino D, Mahony TJ, Blache D. Finding biomarkers of experience in animals. J Anim Sci Biotechnol 2024; 15:28. [PMID: 38374201 PMCID: PMC10877933 DOI: 10.1186/s40104-023-00989-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/28/2023] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
At a time when there is a growing public interest in animal welfare, it is critical to have objective means to assess the way that an animal experiences a situation. Objectivity is critical to ensure appropriate animal welfare outcomes. Existing behavioural, physiological, and neurobiological indicators that are used to assess animal welfare can verify the absence of extremely negative outcomes. But welfare is more than an absence of negative outcomes and an appropriate indicator should reflect the full spectrum of experience of an animal, from negative to positive. In this review, we draw from the knowledge of human biomedical science to propose a list of candidate biological markers (biomarkers) that should reflect the experiential state of non-human animals. The proposed biomarkers can be classified on their main function as endocrine, oxidative stress, non-coding molecular, and thermobiological markers. We also discuss practical challenges that must be addressed before any of these biomarkers can become useful to assess the experience of an animal in real-life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Babington
- School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Alan J Tilbrook
- Centre for Animal Science, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
- School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, 4343, Australia
| | - Shane K Maloney
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Jill N Fernandes
- School of Veterinary Science, The University of Queensland, Gatton, QLD, 4343, Australia
| | - Tamsyn M Crowley
- School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, 3217, Australia
- Poultry Hub Australia, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, 2350, Australia
| | - Luoyang Ding
- School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China
| | - Archa H Fox
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Song Zhang
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Elise A Kho
- Centre for Animal Science, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Daniel Cozzolino
- Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Timothy J Mahony
- Centre for Animal Science, The Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Dominique Blache
- School of Agriculture and Environment, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia.
- College of Animal Science and Technology, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225009, China.
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3
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Bernstein-Kurtycz LM, Vonk J, Carroscia JM, Koester DC, Snyder RJ, Willis MA, Lukas KE. Lack of reinforcement is hard to "bear": Assessing judgment bias in grizzly bears ( Ursus arctos horribilis). J APPL ANIM WELF SCI 2024:1-14. [PMID: 38363302 DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2024.2315042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/17/2024]
Abstract
Cognitive biases reveal underlying affective state by indicating optimism and pessimism. This methodology may permit assessment of positive welfare in animals that have few validated positive welfare indicators, such as bears. Our goal was to validate a judgment bias test for assessing optimism in brown bears, using a touchscreen. After training the bears on a conditional discrimination, we compared responses to an ambiguous stimulus in a 2 × 2 nested design involving four experimental conditions representing presence or absence of a behind-the-scenes tour and presence or absence of a keeper training session with food reinforcement. We recorded bears' behavior during the conditions as a measure of convergent validity. Testing revealed the possibility of pessimism in the absence of reinforcement in one bear. More frustration behaviors were also observed during the no food reinforcement conditions. This is the first experimental demonstration of brown bears using a touchscreen and one of only three reports in which bears have been reported to perform a conditional discrimination. This method of assessing underlying affective state shows promise for the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura M Bernstein-Kurtycz
- Conservation and Science, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland, OH, USA
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Jennifer Vonk
- Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA
| | | | - Diana C Koester
- Conservation and Science, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland, OH, USA
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | | | - Mark A Willis
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
| | - Kristen E Lukas
- Conservation and Science, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Cleveland, OH, USA
- Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
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4
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Beaulieu M. Capturing wild animal welfare: a physiological perspective. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2024; 99:1-22. [PMID: 37635128 DOI: 10.1111/brv.13009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/07/2023] [Indexed: 08/29/2023]
Abstract
Affective states, such as emotions, are presumably widespread across the animal kingdom because of the adaptive advantages they are supposed to confer. However, the study of the affective states of animals has thus far been largely restricted to enhancing the welfare of animals managed by humans in non-natural contexts. Given the diversity of wild animals and the variable conditions they can experience, extending studies on animal affective states to the natural conditions that most animals experience will allow us to broaden and deepen our general understanding of animal welfare. Yet, this same diversity makes examining animal welfare in the wild highly challenging. There is therefore a need for unifying theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches that can guide researchers keen to engage in this promising research area. The aim of this article is to help advance this important research area by highlighting the central relationship between physiology and animal welfare and rectify its apparent oversight, as revealed by the current scientific literature on wild animals. Moreover, this article emphasises the advantages of including physiological markers to assess animal welfare in the wild (e.g. objectivity, comparability, condition range, temporality), as well as their concomitant limitations (e.g. only access to peripheral physiological markers with complex relationships with affective states). Best-practice recommendations (e.g. replication and multifactorial approaches) are also provided to allow physiological markers to be used most effectively and appropriately when assessing the welfare of animals in their natural habitat. This review seeks to provide the foundation for a new and distinct research area with a vast theoretical and applied potential: wild animal welfare physiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michaël Beaulieu
- Wild Animal Initiative, 5123 W 98th St, 1204, Minneapolis, MN, 55437, USA
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Buenhombre J, Daza-Cardona EA, Mota-Rojas D, Domínguez-Oliva A, Rivera A, Medrano-Galarza C, de Tarso P, Cajiao-Pachón MN, Vargas F, Pedraza-Toscano A, Sousa P. Trait sensitivity to stress and cognitive bias processes in fish: A brief overview. PERSONALITY NEUROSCIENCE 2024; 7:e3. [PMID: 38384666 PMCID: PMC10877277 DOI: 10.1017/pen.2023.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Like other animals, fish have unique personalities that can affect their cognition and responses to environmental stressors. These individual personality differences are often referred to as "behavioural syndromes" or "stress coping styles" and can include personality traits such as boldness, shyness, aggression, exploration, locomotor activity, and sociability. For example, bolder or proactive fish may be more likely to take risks and present lower hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal/interrenal axis reactivity as compared to shy or reactive individuals. Likewise, learning and memory differ between fish personalities. Reactive or shy individuals tend to have faster learning and better association recall with aversive stimuli, while proactive or bold individuals tend to learn more quickly when presented with appetitive incentives. However, the influence of personality on cognitive processes other than cognitive achievement in fish has been scarcely explored. Cognitive bias tests have been employed to investigate the interplay between emotion and cognition in both humans and animals. Fish present cognitive bias processes (CBP) in which fish's interpretation of stimuli could be influenced by its current emotional state and open to environmental modulation. However, no study in fish has explored whether CBP, like in other species, can be interpreted as long-lasting traits and whether other individual characteristics may explain its variation. We hold the perspective that CBP could serve as a vulnerability factor for the onset, persistence, and recurrence of stress-related disorders. Therefore, studying fish's CBP as a state or trait and its interactions with individual variations may be valuable in future efforts to enhance our understanding of anxiety and stress neurobiology in animal models and humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jhon Buenhombre
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agrarian Science, Animal Welfare Program, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia
- ICB Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
| | - Erika Alexandra Daza-Cardona
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agrarian Science, Animal Welfare Program, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Daniel Mota-Rojas
- Neurophysiology, Behavior and Animal Welfare Assessment, DPAA, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco Campus, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Adriana Domínguez-Oliva
- Neurophysiology, Behavior and Animal Welfare Assessment, DPAA, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco Campus, Mexico City, Mexico
| | - Astrid Rivera
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agrarian Science, Animal Welfare Program, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Catalina Medrano-Galarza
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agrarian Science, Animal Welfare Program, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia
| | | | - María Nelly Cajiao-Pachón
- Especialización en Bienestar Animal y Etología, Fundación Universitaria Agraria de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Francisco Vargas
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agrarian Science, Animal Welfare Program, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Adriana Pedraza-Toscano
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agrarian Science, Animal Welfare Program, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Pêssi Sousa
- ICB Biological Sciences, Federal University of Pará, Belém, Brazil
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Ede T, Parsons TD. Cognitive tasks as measures of pig welfare: a systematic review. Front Vet Sci 2023; 10:1251070. [PMID: 38033647 PMCID: PMC10683646 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1251070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 12/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Cognitive approaches are increasingly used to assess animal welfare, but no systematic review has been conducted on pigs despite their cognitive capacities. Our aims were two-fold: first, to assess the popularity and heterogeneity of this approach by quantifying the different cognitive tasks used and welfare interventions studied. The second was to assess how often results from cognitive tasks supported treatment effects. The search yielded 36 studies that met our criteria. Eleven different cognitive tasks were applied (three most common: judgment bias, learned approach/aversion, and holeboard). Welfare interventions investigated were also diverse: the impact of 19 other different events/conditions/states were reported (most common: housing enrichment). We defined "supportive" as the observation of a significant difference between treatment groups consistent with an author's expectation or hypothesis. Supportive findings were reported in 44% of papers. Interventions yielded no significant difference in 33% of studies. In another 21% of reports, outcomes were mixed and a single study refuted the author's predictions. When considering specific cognitive tasks, authors' predictions of welfare differences were supported most often when using learned approach/aversion (55% of these studies). Similar supportive results were observed less commonly (40% each) when using judgment bias and holeboard tests. Analysis of additional concomitant measures of welfare (health, physiology or behavior) revealed that behavioral measures were most frequently supportive of author's expectations (41%) as well as often matching the actual outcomes of these cognitive tasks (47%). This systematic review highlights the growing popularity of cognitive tasks as measures of pig welfare. However, overall rates of supportive results, i.e., changes in performance on cognitive tasks due to welfare interventions, have been limited so far, even for the most employed task, judgment bias. The numerous different combinations of experimental paradigms and welfare interventions reported in the literature creates challenges for a critical meta-analysis of the field especially in evaluating the efficiency of specific cognitive tasks in assessing animal welfare. This work also highlights important knowledge gaps in the use of cognitive tasks that will require both further validation as well as novel innovation to ensure that their potential is fully realized in the measurement of pig welfare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas Ede
- Swine Teaching and Research Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Kennett Square, PA, United States
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Manteuffel C, Spitschak M, Ludwig C, Wirthgen E. New Perspectives In The Objective Evaluation Of Animal Welfare, With Focus On The Domestic Pig. J APPL ANIM WELF SCI 2023; 26:518-529. [PMID: 34727795 DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2021.1998774] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
Animal welfare can be viewed as the result of integrating repeated affective evaluations of success in coping with environmental challenges, i.e., subjective challenge adequacy. The present work summarizes why established physiological and behavioral welfare parameters are inadequate to assess challenge adequacy. Behavioral tests based on the mood-congruent judgment effect and physiologic parameters based on components of the somatotropic axis are proposed as an alternative. Here, the judgment bias measures an animal's subjective confidence to cope successfully with a challenge, which is in turn modulated by the animal's previous experience. The somatotropic axis incorporates the insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and its binding proteins (IGFBP), which are involved in the regulation of metabolism and growth. First results indicate that in particular IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 react with higher latency and higher inertness to short-term stressful events than established physiological stress parameters. Before these indicators can be utilized for overall welfare assessment, further validation studies are necessary that provide more insights into how repeatable the measurements are under different conditions and which other factors may confound the measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian Manteuffel
- Leibniz Institute of Farm Animal Biology, Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Ethology Unit, Dummerstorf, Germany
- Department of Mucosal Immunity, Rostock University Medical Center, Rostock, Germany
| | - Marion Spitschak
- Leibniz Institute of Farm Animal Biology, Institute of Genome Biology, Signal Transduction Unit, Dummerstorf, Germany
| | - Carolin Ludwig
- Leibniz Institute of Farm Animal Biology,Institute of Reproductive Biology, Reproductive Biochemistry Unit, Dummerstorf, Germany
| | - Elisa Wirthgen
- Leibniz Institute of Farm Animal Biology, Institute of Genome Biology, Signal Transduction Unit, Dummerstorf, Germany
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8
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Baqueiro-Espinosa U, Lo TH, Hunter R, Donnelly P, McEvoy V, Crump A, Arnott G. Positive human interaction improves welfare in commercial breeding dogs: Evidence from attention bias and human sociability tests. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2023.105904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/30/2023]
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9
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Strang C, Muth F. Judgement bias may be explained by shifts in stimulus response curves. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:221322. [PMID: 37035286 PMCID: PMC10073905 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.221322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/20/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Judgement bias, or 'optimism' and 'pessimism', has been demonstrated across many taxa, yet the cognitive mechanisms underlying this behaviour remain unclear. In an optimism paradigm, animals are trained to an association, and, if given a positive experience, behave more favourably towards 'ambiguous' stimuli. We tested whether this effect could be explained by changes to stimulus response gradients by giving bees a task where their response was tested across a wider gradient of stimuli than typically tested. In line with previous work, we found that bees given a positive experience demonstrated judgement bias, being more likely to visit ambiguous stimuli. However, bees were also less likely to visit a stimulus on the other side of the rewarded stimulus (S+), and as such had a shifted stimulus response curve, showing a diminished peak shift response. In two follow-up experiments we tested the hypothesis that our manipulation altered bees' stimulus response curves via changes to the peak shift response by reducing peak shift in controls. We found that, in support of our hypothesis, elimination of peak shift also eliminated differences between treatments. Our results point towards a cognitive explanation of 'optimistic' behaviour in non-human animals and offer a new paradigm for considering emotion-like states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caroline Strang
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
- School of Behavioural and Social Sciences, Brescia University College, London, Ontario, Canada N6G 1H2
| | - Felicity Muth
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA
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10
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Structural environmental enrichment and the way it is offered influence cognitive judgement bias and anxiety-like behaviours in zebrafish. Anim Cogn 2023; 26:563-577. [PMID: 36209454 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01700-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Revised: 07/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
Abstract
Environmental enrichment in zebrafish generally reduces anxiety-related behaviours, improves learning in maze trials and increases health and biological fitness. However, certain types of enrichment or certain conditions induce the opposite effects. Therefore, it is essential to study the characteristics of environmental enrichment that modulate these effects. This study aims to investigate if structural environmental enrichment and the way it is offered influence cognitive judgement bias and anxiety-like behaviours in adult zebrafish. The fish were assigned to six housing manipulations: constant barren, constant enrichment, gradual gain of enrichment, gradual loss of enrichment, sudden gain of enrichment and sudden loss of enrichment. We then transposed the cognitive judgment bias paradigm, formerly used in studies on other animals to measure the link between emotion and cognition, to objectively assess the impact of these manipulations on the zebrafish's interpretation of ambiguous stimuli, considering previous experiences and related emotional states. We used two battery tests (light/dark and activity tests), which measured anxiety-related behaviours to check if these tests covariate with cognitive bias results. The fish with a sudden gain in enrichment showed a pessimistic bias (interpreted ambiguous stimuli as negative). In addition, the fish that experienced a sudden gain and a gradual loss in enrichment showed more anxiety-like behaviours than the fish that experienced constant conditions or a gradual gain in enrichment. The data provide some proof that structural environmental enrichment and the way it is presented can alter zebrafish's cognitive bias and anxiety-like behaviours.
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Marliani G, Balboni A, Tiberi C, Malavasi R, Gardini A, Accorsi PA. Is the judgment bias test a good tool to assess the quality of horse management? J Vet Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2022.11.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
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12
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Hodges TE, Lieblich SE, Rechlin RK, Galea LAM. Sex differences in inflammation in the hippocampus and amygdala across the lifespan in rats: associations with cognitive bias. Immun Ageing 2022; 19:43. [PMID: 36203171 PMCID: PMC9535862 DOI: 10.1186/s12979-022-00299-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2022] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
Background Cognitive symptoms of major depressive disorder, such as negative cognitive bias, are more prevalent in women than in men. Cognitive bias involves pattern separation which requires hippocampal neurogenesis and is modulated by inflammation in the brain. Previously, we found sex differences in the activation of the amygdala and the hippocampus in response to negative cognitive bias in rats that varied with age. Given the association of cognitive bias to neurogenesis and inflammation, we examined associations between cognitive bias, neurogenesis in the hippocampus, and cytokine and chemokine levels in the ventral hippocampus (HPC) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) of male and female rats across the lifespan. Results After cognitive bias testing, males had more IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-10 in the ventral HPC than females in adolescence. In young adulthood, females had more IFN-γ, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-10 in the BLA than males. Middle-aged rats had more IL-13, TNF-α, and CXCL1 in both regions than younger groups. Adolescent male rats had higher hippocampal neurogenesis than adolescent females after cognitive bias testing and young rats that underwent cognitive bias testing had higher levels of hippocampal neurogenesis than controls. Neurogenesis in the dorsal hippocampus was negatively associated with negative cognitive bias in young adult males. Conclusions Overall, the association between negative cognitive bias, hippocampal neurogenesis, and inflammation in the brain differs by age and sex. Hippocampal neurogenesis and inflammation may play greater role in the cognitive bias of young males compared to a greater role of BLA inflammation in adult females. These findings lay the groundwork for the discovery of sex-specific novel therapeutics that target region-specific inflammation in the brain and hippocampal neurogenesis. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12979-022-00299-4. • Adolescent male rats had more hippocampal inflammation than females after cognitive bias testing. • Adult female rats had more basolateral amygdalar inflammation than males after cognitive bias testing. • HPC neurogenesis was negatively associated to cognitive bias in young adult male rats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis E. Hodges
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Stephanie E. Lieblich
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Rebecca K. Rechlin
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
| | - Liisa A. M. Galea
- grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada ,grid.17091.3e0000 0001 2288 9830Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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13
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Krebs BL, Chudeau KR, Eschmann CL, Tu CW, Pacheco E, Watters JV. Space, time, and context drive anticipatory behavior: Considerations for understanding the behavior of animals in human care. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:972217. [PMID: 36148468 PMCID: PMC9485936 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.972217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/18/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal-based measures reflecting the welfare state of individuals are critical for ensuring the well-being of animals under human care. Anticipatory behavior is one potential animal-based measure that has gained traction in recent years, as it is theorized to relate to animals' reward sensitivity. It is of particular interest as an assessment for animals living under human care, as the predictability of the captive environment lends itself to the development of this class of behaviors. Animals are likely to exhibit anticipation in locations related to the anticipated event, often in temporally predictable time frames, and before specific contexts they experience in their day-to-day management. In this sense and under certain circumstances, anticipatory behaviors are likely to drive observed behavioral or space use patterns of animals under human care. Drawing conclusions from such data without identifying anticipation may result in misleading conclusions. Here we discuss how space, time, and context are related to patterns of anticipatory behaviors in animals under human care, how unidentified anticipation may alter conclusions regarding animal behavior or welfare under certain circumstances.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bethany L. Krebs
- Animal Wellness Department, San Francisco Zoological Society, San Francisco, CA, United States
- *Correspondence: Bethany L. Krebs
| | - Karli R. Chudeau
- Animal Science Department, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Caitlin L. Eschmann
- Animal Wellness Department, San Francisco Zoological Society, San Francisco, CA, United States
| | - Celina W. Tu
- Animal Science Department, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Eridia Pacheco
- Animal Science Department, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
| | - Jason V. Watters
- Animal Wellness Department, San Francisco Zoological Society, San Francisco, CA, United States
- Animal Science Department, University of California, Davis, CA, United States
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Bračić M, Bohn L, Siewert V, von Kortzfleisch VT, Schielzeth H, Kaiser S, Sachser N, Richter SH. Once an optimist, always an optimist? Studying cognitive judgment bias in mice. Behav Ecol 2022; 33:775-788. [PMID: 35812364 PMCID: PMC9262167 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arac040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2021] [Revised: 02/23/2022] [Accepted: 03/31/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals differ in the way they judge ambiguous information: some individuals interpret ambiguous information in a more optimistic, and others in a more pessimistic way. Over the past two decades, such "optimistic" and "pessimistic" cognitive judgment biases (CJBs) have been utilized in animal welfare science as indicators of animals' emotional states. However, empirical studies on their ecological and evolutionary relevance are still lacking. We, therefore, aimed at transferring the concept of "optimism" and "pessimism" to behavioral ecology and investigated the role of genetic and environmental factors in modulating CJB in mice. In addition, we assessed the temporal stability of individual differences in CJB. We show that the chosen genotypes (C57BL/6J and B6D2F1N) and environments ("scarce" and "complex") did not have a statistically significant influence on the responses in the CJB test. By contrast, they influenced anxiety-like behavior with C57BL/6J mice and mice from the "complex" environment displaying less anxiety-like behavior than B6D2F1N mice and mice from the "scarce" environment. As the selected genotypes and environments did not explain the existing differences in CJB, future studies might investigate the impact of other genotypes and environmental conditions on CJB, and additionally, elucidate the role of other potential causes like endocrine profiles and epigenetic modifications. Furthermore, we show that individual differences in CJB were repeatable over a period of seven weeks, suggesting that CJB represents a temporally stable trait in laboratory mice. Therefore, we encourage the further study of CJB within an animal personality framework.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marko Bračić
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Münster Graduate School of Evolution, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Lena Bohn
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Münster Graduate School of Evolution, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Viktoria Siewert
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | | | - Holger Schielzeth
- Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
| | - Sylvia Kaiser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Münster Graduate School of Evolution, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Norbert Sachser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Münster Graduate School of Evolution, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
- Münster Graduate School of Evolution, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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15
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Bushby EV, Cotter SC, Wilkinson A, Friel M, Collins LM. Judgment Bias During Gestation in Domestic Pigs. Front Vet Sci 2022; 9:881101. [PMID: 35647100 PMCID: PMC9133791 DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2022.881101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In humans and rats, changes in affect are known to occur during pregnancy, however it is unknown how gestation may influence mood in other non-human mammals. This study assessed changes in pigs' judgment bias as a measure of affective state throughout gestation. Pigs were trained to complete a spatial judgment bias task with reference to positive and negative locations. We tested gilts before mating, and during early and late gestation, by assessing their responses to ambiguous probe locations. Pigs responded increasingly negatively to ambiguous probes as gestation progressed and there were consistent inter-individual differences in baseline optimism. This suggests that the pigs' affective state may be altered during gestation, although as a non-pregnant control group was not tested, an effect of learning cannot be ruled out. These results suggest that judgment bias is altered during gestation in domestic pigs, consequently raising novel welfare considerations for captive multiparous species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily V. Bushby
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Sheena C. Cotter
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom
| | - Anna Wilkinson
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom
| | - Mary Friel
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
| | - Lisa M. Collins
- School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom
- School of Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- *Correspondence: Lisa M. Collins
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16
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Hodges TE, Lee GY, Noh SH, Galea LA. Sex and age differences in cognitive bias and neural activation in response to cognitive bias testing. Neurobiol Stress 2022; 18:100458. [PMID: 35586750 PMCID: PMC9109184 DOI: 10.1016/j.ynstr.2022.100458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2022] [Revised: 03/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Cognitive symptoms of depression, including negative cognitive bias, are more severe in women than in men. Current treatments to reduce negative cognitive bias are not effective and sex differences in the neural activity underlying cognitive bias may play a role. Here we examined sex and age differences in cognitive bias and functional connectivity in a novel paradigm. Male and female rats underwent an 18-day cognitive bias procedure, in which they learned to discriminate between two contexts (shock paired context A, no-shock paired context B), during either adolescence (postnatal day (PD 40)), young adulthood (PD 100), or middle-age (PD 210). Cognitive bias was measured as freezing behaviour in response to an ambiguous context (context C), with freezing levels akin to the shock paired context coded as negative bias. All animals learned to discriminate between the two contexts, regardless of sex or age. However, adults (young adults, middle-aged) displayed a greater negative cognitive bias compared to adolescents, and middle-aged males had a greater negative cognitive bias than middle-aged females. Females had greater neural activation of the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and hippocampal regions to the ambiguous context compared to males, and young rats (adolescent, young adults) had greater neural activation in these regions compared to middle-aged rats. Functional connectivity between regions involved in cognitive bias differed by age and sex, and only adult males had negative correlations between the frontal regions and hippocampal regions. These findings highlight the importance of examining age and sex when investigating the underpinnings of negative cognitive bias and lay the groundwork for determining what age- and sex-specific regions to target in future cognitive bias studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis E. Hodges
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Grace Y. Lee
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Sophia H. Noh
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
| | - Liisa A.M. Galea
- Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Graduate Program in Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health, University of British Columbia, Canada
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17
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Impact of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Anim Cogn 2022; 25:1331-1343. [DOI: 10.1007/s10071-022-01616-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Revised: 02/28/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/01/2022]
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18
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Kremer L, van Reenen CG, Engel B, Bokkers EAM, Schnabel SK, van der Werf JTN, Webb LE. Developing a feasible and sensitive judgement bias task in dairy cows. Anim Cogn 2022; 25:425-445. [PMID: 34633570 PMCID: PMC8940804 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01563-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Revised: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 09/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Judgement bias tasks (JBTs) are used to assess the influence of farm practices on livestock affective states. The tasks must be adjusted to the species and age group of focus. In cattle, most JBTs were designed for calves instead of adult cows. This study aimed to develop a JBT suitable for adult dairy cows, combining feasibility, validity, sensitivity and repeatability. Three JBTs were developed in which cows were trained to reach or avoid reaching a feeder, the location of which signalled a reward or punisher. The tasks differed in terms of punisher-cows being allocated either to "no-reward", an air puff or an electric shock. Cows were then exposed twice to three ambiguous positions of the feeder, on two separate occasions. Speed of learning and proportions of correct responses to the conditioned locations were used to assess the feasibility of the task. Adjusted latencies to reach the ambiguous feeder positions were used to examine whether response patterns matched the linear and monotonic graded pattern expected in a valid and sensitive JBT at baseline. Latencies to reach the feeders in the two repeated testing sessions were compared to assess ambiguity loss over tasks' repetitions. The validity of using spatial JBTs for dairy cows was demonstrated. While the effect on JBT feasibility was nuanced, the punisher did influence JBT sensitivity. None of the JBTs' repeatability could be supported. We conclude that using an air puf as punisher led to the most sensitive, yet non-repeatable, JBT for dairy cows.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louise Kremer
- Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
- Wageningen Livestock Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
| | - Cornelis G van Reenen
- Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
- Wageningen Livestock Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Bas Engel
- Biometris, Wageningen University, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Eddie A M Bokkers
- Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Sabine K Schnabel
- Biometris, Wageningen University, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Jozef T N van der Werf
- Wageningen Livestock Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Laura E Webb
- Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, The Netherlands
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19
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The effect of unexpected rewards on decision making in cuttlefish. Sci Rep 2022; 12:2514. [PMID: 35169192 PMCID: PMC8847567 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-06443-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite numerous studies demonstrating the cognitive ability of cephalopods, there is currently no study showing an emotion-like behavior in this group of animals. To examine whether cuttlefish have different internal states, we developed a behavioral paradigm to assess if prior surprised events are able to alter the choice made by cuttlefish. By presenting unexpected food rewards to cuttlefish before the test, we investigated whether the reaction time of choosing between two shrimps, an intuitive response toward the prey without previous learning, at three different levels of discriminative tests (easy, difficult, and ambiguous), are different compared to the one without an unexpected reward. This behavioral paradigm serves to demonstrate whether cuttlefish are aware of ambiguous situations, and their choice outcome and reaction time are dependent of their internal states. The results show that the response latency was significantly shortened in the difficult and ambiguous tests when choosing from two shrimps that are either moderately different in size or similar sizes, respectively, when cuttlefish have received unexpected rewards before the test. These results were compared with tests during which the cuttlefish did not receive any reward in advance. Furthermore, this shortening of latency did not result in a difference in choice outcome during the difficult and ambiguous tests. Interestingly, even when cuttlefish have obtained the expected food rewards or simply made tentacular strike without prey capture each time before test, these prior experiences were sufficient to shorten the response latency in the difficult and ambiguous tests. However, different from the result of unexpected rewards, food consumption alone or prey capture failure did affect the choice outcome during the simple and difficult tests. Taken together, our findings suggest that pre-test treatments of unexpected and expected rewards or simply unsuccessful visual attack seem to induce cuttlefish to adopt different foraging behaviors. This context dependent decision making suggests that cuttlefish’s foraging strategies are influenced by the previously surprised event and their internal states. It also shows a speed-accuracy tradeoff in difficult and ambiguous situations when foraging for prey. This observation may lead to a future investigation of the presence of emotional state in cephalopods.
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20
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Podturkin AA, Krebs BL, Watters JV. A Quantitative Approach for Using Anticipatory Behavior as a Graded Welfare Assessment. J APPL ANIM WELF SCI 2022:1-15. [PMID: 35000521 DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2021.2012783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Abstract
To perform quick assessments, welfare practitioners may focus on specific behavioral indicators of welfare, which can lead to challenges in interpretation. Anticipatory behavior has been suggested as a potentially graded indicator of well-being in animals. However, there are difficulties in assessing variations in this class of behavior quantitatively. Here, we propose an analytical approach for identifying and comparing the intensity of anticipatory behavior across different conditions. We evaluated the changes in the behavior of a sea lion at the San Francisco Zoo before and after daily training sessions, the start time of which had differing degrees of predictability. We show that anticipatory behavior is a complex suite of behaviors that can show multi-directional changes prior to an anticipated event. Additionally, we show that the methods utilized here can distinguish among differing intensities of anticipation directed toward daily husbandry events. We suggest that this approach may be broadly applicable for applying measures of anticipatory behavior as a graded welfare indicator.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Bethany L Krebs
- Wellness Department, San Francisco Zoo and Gardens San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Jason V Watters
- Wellness Department, San Francisco Zoo and Gardens San Francisco, CA, USA
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21
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MacLellan A, Fureix C, Polanco A, Mason G. Can animals develop depression? An overview and assessment of ‘depression-like’ states. BEHAVIOUR 2021. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Describing certain animal behaviours as ‘depression-like’ or ‘depressive’ has become common across several fields of research. These typically involve unusually low activity or unresponsiveness and/or reduced interest in pleasure (anhedonia). While the term ‘depression-like’ carefully avoids directly claiming that animals are depressed, this narrative review asks whether stronger conclusions can be legitimate, with animals developing the clinical disorder as seen in humans (cf., DSM-V/ICD-10). Here, we examine evidence from animal models of depression (especially chronically stressed rats) and animals experiencing poor welfare in conventional captive conditions (e.g., laboratory mice and production pigs in barren environments). We find troubling evidence that animals are indeed capable of experiencing clinical depression, but demonstrate that a true diagnosis has yet to be confirmed in any case. We thus highlight the importance of investigating the co-occurrence of depressive criteria and discuss the potential welfare and ethical implications of animal depression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aileen MacLellan
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1
| | - Carole Fureix
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford, UK
| | - Andrea Polanco
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1
| | - Georgia Mason
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1
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22
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Rousseau CX, Binfet JT. The Who, Where, and What of Publications in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science from 2009 to 2019: A Bibliometric Analysis. J APPL ANIM WELF SCI 2021. [DOI: 10.1080/10888705.2021.1980727] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- C. X. Rousseau
- Okanagan School of Education, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
| | - J. T. Binfet
- Okanagan School of Education, University of British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
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23
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Huskisson SM, Doelling CR, Ross SR, Hopper LM. Assessing the potential impact of zoo visitors on the welfare and cognitive performance of Japanese macaques. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [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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24
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From human wellbeing to animal welfare. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021; 131:941-952. [PMID: 34509514 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/21/2019] [Revised: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 09/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
What does it mean to be "well" and how might such a state be cultivated? When we speak of wellbeing, it is of ourselves and fellow humans. When it comes to nonhuman animals, consideration turns to welfare. My aim herein is to suggest that theoretical approaches to human wellbeing might be beneficially applied to consideration of animal welfare, and in so doing, introduce new lines of inquiry and practice. I will review current approaches to human wellbeing, adopting a triarchic structure that delineates hedonic wellbeing, eudaimonic wellbeing, and social wellbeing. For each, I present a conceptual definition and a review of how researchers have endeavored to measure the construct. Drawing these three domains of research together, I highlight how these traditionally anthropocentric lines of inquiry might be extended to the question of animal welfare - namely by considering hedonic welfare, eudaimonic welfare, and social welfare as potentially distinguishable and complementary components of the broader construct of animal welfare.
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25
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Adriaense JEC, Šlipogor V, Hintze S, Marshall L, Lamm C, Bugnyar T. Watching others in a positive state does not induce optimism bias in common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), but leads to behaviour indicative of competition. Anim Cogn 2021; 24:1039-1056. [PMID: 33725202 PMCID: PMC8360889 DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01497-1] [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: 11/05/2020] [Revised: 02/15/2021] [Accepted: 02/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Emotional contagion is suggested to facilitate group life by enhancing synchronized responses to the environment. Cooperative breeders are an example of a social system that requires such intricate coordination between individuals. Therefore, we studied emotional contagion in common marmosets by means of a judgement bias test. Demonstrators were exposed to an emotion manipulation (i.e., positive, negative, control), and observers perceived only the demonstrator's behaviour. We predicted that the positive or negative states of the demonstrator would induce matching states in the observer, indicating emotional contagion. All subjects' emotional states were assessed through behaviour and cognition, the latter by means of a judgement bias test. Behavioural results showed a successful emotion manipulation of demonstrators, with manipulation-congruent expressions (i.e., positive calls in the positive condition, and negative calls and pilo-erect tail in the negative condition). Observers showed no manipulation-congruent expressions, but showed more scratching and arousal after the positive manipulation. Concerning the judgement bias test, we predicted that subjects in a positive state should increase their response to ambiguous cues (i.e., optimism bias), and subjects in a negative state should decrease their response (i.e., pessimism bias). This prediction was not supported as neither demonstrators nor observers showed such bias in either manipulation. Yet, demonstrators showed an increased response to the near-positive cue, and additional analyses showed unexpected responses to the reference cues, as well as a researcher identity effect. We discuss all results combined, including recently raised validation concerns of the judgement bias test, and inherent challenges to empirically studying emotional contagion.
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Affiliation(s)
- J E C Adriaense
- Evolutionary Cognition Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - V Šlipogor
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
- Department of Zoology, University of South Bohemia, Budweiss, Czech Republic
| | - S Hintze
- Division of Livestock Sciences, Department of Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria
| | - L Marshall
- Bristol Veterinary School, Langford House, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - C Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - T Bugnyar
- Department of Behavioral and Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
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26
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Anderson MG, Campbell AM, Crump A, Arnott G, Jacobs L. Environmental complexity positively impacts affective states of broiler chickens. Sci Rep 2021; 11:16966. [PMID: 34417475 PMCID: PMC8379235 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-95280-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2021] [Accepted: 07/16/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Affective state can bias an animal's judgement. Animals in positive affective states can interpret ambiguous cues more positively ("optimistically") than animals in negative affective states. Thus, judgement bias tests can determine an animal's affective state through their responses to ambiguous cues. We tested the effects of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of broiler chickens through a multimodal judgement bias test. Broilers were trained to approach reinforced locations signaled by one color and not to approach unreinforced locations signaled by a different color. Trained birds were tested for latencies to approach three ambiguous cues of intermediate color and location. Broilers discriminated between cues, with shorter latencies to approach ambiguous cues closest to the reinforced cue than cues closest to the unreinforced cue, validating the use of the test in this context. Broilers housed in high-complexity pens approached ambiguous cues faster than birds in low-complexity pens-an optimistic judgement bias, suggesting the former were in a more positive affective state. Broilers from high-density pens tended to approach all cues faster than birds from low-density pens, possibly because resource competition in their home pen increased food motivation. Overall, our study suggests that environmental complexity improves broilers' affective states, implying animal welfare benefits of environmental enrichment.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. G. Anderson
- grid.438526.e0000 0001 0694 4940Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA USA
| | - A. M. Campbell
- grid.438526.e0000 0001 0694 4940Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA USA
| | - A. Crump
- grid.13063.370000 0001 0789 5319Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK
| | - G. Arnott
- grid.4777.30000 0004 0374 7521School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, UK
| | - L. Jacobs
- grid.438526.e0000 0001 0694 4940Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA USA
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27
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Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs. Animals (Basel) 2021; 11:ani11072054. [PMID: 34359180 PMCID: PMC8300371 DOI: 10.3390/ani11072054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/10/2021] [Revised: 07/05/2021] [Accepted: 07/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary It is widely recognized that the assessment of animal welfare should include measures of positive emotional (affective) state. Existing behavioral and physiological indicators of a positive affective state frequently lack sensitivity, objectivity or are unsuitable in a production environment. Therefore, there is a need to develop new approaches to accurately and objectively measure a positive emotional state in animals, including novel molecular markers such a miRNA. These biomarkers must be measurable in the peripheral circulation and provide an accurate account of the physiological and molecular activity in regions of the brain associated with emotional processing. Further, such markers require validation against established behavioral and physiological indices. Here we investigated the efficacy of circulating miRNA as biomarkers of emotional state in the pig. Abstract The ability to assess the welfare of animals is dependent on our ability to accurately determine their emotional (affective) state, with particular emphasis being placed on the identification of positive emotions. The challenge remains that current physiological and behavioral indices are either unable to distinguish between positive and negative emotional states, or they are simply not suitable for a production environment. Therefore, the development of novel measures of animal emotion is a necessity. Here we investigated the efficacy of microRNA (miRNA) in the brain and blood as biomarkers of emotional state in the pig. Female Large White × Landrace pigs (n = 24) were selected at weaning and trained to perform a judgment bias test (JBT), before being exposed for 5 weeks to either enriched (n = 12) or barren housing (n = 12) conditions. Pigs were tested on the JBT once prior to treatment, and immediately following treatment. MiRNA and neurotransmitters were analyzed in blood and brain tissue after euthanasia. Treatment had no effect on the outcomes of the JBT. There was also no effect of treatment on miRNA expression in blood or the brain (FDR p > 0.05). However, pigs exposed to enriched housing had elevated dopamine within the striatum compared to pigs in barren housing (p = 0.02). The results imply that either (a) miRNAs are not likely to be valid biomarkers of a positive affective state, at least under the type of conditions employed in this study, or (b) that the study design used to modify affective state was not able to create differential affective states, and therefore establish the validity of miRNA as biomarkers.
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28
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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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Assessing Animal Welfare with Behavior: Onward with Caution. JOURNAL OF ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL GARDENS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/jzbg2010006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
An emphasis on ensuring animal welfare is growing in zoo and aquarium associations around the globe. This has led to a focus on measures of welfare outcomes for individual animals. Observations and interpretations of behavior are the most widely used outcome-based measures of animal welfare. They commonly serve as a diagnostic tool from which practitioners make animal welfare decisions and suggest treatments, yet errors in data collection and interpretation can lead to the potential for misdiagnosis. We describe the perils of incorrect welfare diagnoses and common mistakes in applying behavior-based tools. The missteps that can be made in behavioral assessment include mismatches between definitions of animal welfare and collected data, lack of alternative explanations, faulty logic, behavior interpreted out of context, murky assumptions, lack of behavior definitions, and poor justification for assigning a welfare value to a specific behavior. Misdiagnosing the welfare state of an animal has negative consequences. These include continued poor welfare states, inappropriate use of resources, lack of understanding of welfare mechanisms and the perpetuation of the previously mentioned faulty logic throughout the wider scientific community. We provide recommendations for assessing behavior-based welfare tools, and guidance for those developing tools and interpreting data.
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Abstract
Allowing dairy cattle to access pasture can promote natural behaviour and improve their health. However, the psychological benefits are poorly understood. We compared a cognitive indicator of emotion in cattle either with or without pasture access. In a crossover experiment, 29 Holstein-Friesian dairy cows had 18 days of overnight pasture access and 18 days of full-time indoor housing. To assess emotional wellbeing, we tested cows on a spatial judgement bias task. Subjects learnt to approach a rewarded bucket location, but not approach another, unrewarded bucket location. We then presented cows with three "probe" buckets intermediate between the trained locations. Approaching the probes reflected an expectation of reward under ambiguity-an "optimistic" judgement bias, suggesting positive emotional states. We analysed the data using linear mixed-effects models. There were no treatment differences in latency to approach the probe buckets, but cows approached the known rewarded bucket slower when they had pasture access than when they were indoors full-time. Our results indicate that, compared to cattle housed indoors, cattle with pasture access display less anticipatory behaviour towards a known reward. This reduced reward anticipation suggests that pasture is a more rewarding environment, which may induce more positive emotional states than full-time housing.
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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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32
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Role of the medial prefrontal cortex in the effects of rapid acting antidepressants on decision-making biases in rodents. Neuropsychopharmacology 2020; 45:2278-2288. [PMID: 32842137 PMCID: PMC7784869 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-020-00797-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2020] [Revised: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 07/08/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Major depressive disorder is a significant and costly cause of global disability. Until the discovery of the rapid acting antidepressant (RAAD) effects of ketamine, treatments were limited to drugs that have delayed clinical benefits. The mechanism of action of ketamine is currently unclear but one hypothesis is that it may involve neuropsychological effects mediated through modulation of affective biases (where cognitive processes such as learning and memory and decision-making are modified by emotional state). Previous work has shown that affective biases in a rodent decision-making task are differentially altered by ketamine, compared to conventional, delayed onset antidepressants. This study sought to further investigate these effects by comparing ketamine with other NMDA antagonists using this decision-making task. We also investigated the subtype selective GluN2B antagonist, CP-101,606 and muscarinic antagonist scopolamine which have both been shown to have RAAD effects. Both CP-101,606 and scopolamine induced similar positive biases in decision-making to ketamine, but the same effects were not seen with other NMDA antagonists. Using targeted medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) infusions, these effects were localised to the mPFC. In contrast, the GABAA agonist, muscimol, induced general disruptions to behaviour. These data suggest that ketamine and other RAADs mediate a specific effect on affective bias which involves the mPFC. Non-ketamine NMDA antagonists lacked efficacy and we also found that temporary inactivation of the mPFC did not fully recapitulate the effects of ketamine, suggesting a specific mechanism.
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Crump A, Bethell EJ, Earley R, Lee VE, Mendl M, Oldham L, Turner SP, Arnott G. Emotion in animal contests. Proc Biol Sci 2020; 287:20201715. [PMID: 33203327 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.1715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Emotions encompass cognitive and behavioural responses to reward and punishment. Using contests as a case-study, we propose that short-term emotions underpin animals' assessments, decision-making and behaviour. Equating contest assessments to emotional 'appraisals', we describe how contestants appraise more than resource value and outcome probability. These appraisals elicit the cognition, drive and neurophysiology that governs aggressive behaviour. We discuss how recent contest outcomes induce long-term moods, which impact subsequent contest behaviour. Finally, we distinguish between integral (objectively relevant) and incidental (objectively irrelevant) emotions and moods (affective states). Unlike existing ecological models, our approach predicts that incidental events influence contest dynamics, and that contests become incidental influences themselves, potentially causing maladaptive decision-making. As affective states cross contexts, a more holistic ethology (incorporating emotions and moods) would illuminate animal cognition and behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrew Crump
- Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK.,Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, UK
| | - Emily J Bethell
- School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
| | - Ryan Earley
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, USA
| | - Victoria E Lee
- Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Scotland's Rural College, UK
| | - Michael Mendl
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, UK
| | - Lucy Oldham
- Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Scotland's Rural College, UK
| | - Simon P Turner
- Animal Behaviour and Welfare, Scotland's Rural College, UK
| | - Gareth Arnott
- Institute for Global Food Security, School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, UK
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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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Lagisz M, Zidar J, Nakagawa S, Neville V, Sorato E, Paul ES, Bateson M, Mendl M, Løvlie H. Optimism, pessimism and judgement bias in animals: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 118:3-17. [PMID: 32682742 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.07.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2020] [Revised: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 07/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
Just as happy people see the proverbial glass as half-full, 'optimistic' or 'pessimistic' responses to ambiguity might also reflect affective states in animals. Judgement bias tests, designed to measure these responses, are an increasingly popular way of assessing animal affect and there is now a substantial, but heterogeneous, literature on their use across different species, affect manipulations, and study designs. By conducting a systematic review and meta-analysis of 459 effect sizes from 71 studies of non-pharmacological affect manipulations on 22 non-human species, we show that animals in relatively better conditions, assumed to generate more positive affect, show more 'optimistic' judgements of ambiguity than those in relatively worse conditions. Overall effects are small when considering responses to all cues, but become more pronounced when non-ambiguous training cues are excluded from analyses or when focusing only on the most divergent responses between treatment groups. Task type (go/no-go; go/go active choice), training cue reinforcement (reward-punishment; reward-null; reward-reward) and sex of animals emerge as potential moderators of effect sizes in judgement bias tests.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malgorzata Lagisz
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia
| | - Josefina Zidar
- The Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, IFM Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, 2052, Australia.
| | - Vikki Neville
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
| | - Enrico Sorato
- The Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, IFM Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Elizabeth S Paul
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
| | - Melissa Bateson
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Biosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, United Kingdom
| | - Michael Mendl
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford, BS40 5DU, United Kingdom.
| | - Hanne Løvlie
- The Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, IFM Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83, Linköping, Sweden
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36
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Turner PV. Moving Beyond the Absence of Pain and Distress: Focusing on Positive Animal Welfare. ILAR J 2020; 60:366-372. [PMID: 33119093 DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ilaa017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 03/31/2020] [Accepted: 06/01/2020] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
For many years, researchers, veterinarians, animal ethics committees, and regulators have focused on minimizing pain and distress as a primary goal of refinement when working with animals in science. More recent publications as well as a shift in animal ethics and public opinion have emphasized promotion of positive affective states, culminating in the concept of positive animal welfare. Robust measures are required to know when positive animal welfare states are occurring, and a number of measures are proposed and discussed. Regardless of whether there are newer methods available that focus exclusively on measuring positive affective states, consistent consideration of research animal behavioral programs, refinement, and adopting periodic stand-alone animal welfare assessments for all species involved will help to push the care and practices of research animals towards an increased focus on positive animal welfare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patricia V Turner
- Charles River Laboratories Inc, Global Animal Welfare & Training, Charles River, Wilmington, Massachusetts, USA
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Burani C, Barnard S, Wells D, Pelosi A, Valsecchi P. Using judgment bias test in pet and shelter dogs (Canis familiaris): Methodological and statistical caveats. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0241344. [PMID: 33108399 PMCID: PMC7591058 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241344] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [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: 05/26/2020] [Accepted: 10/13/2020] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
It is now widely agreed that a positive affective state is a crucial component of animal well-being. The judgment bias test represents a widespread tool used to assess animals' optimistic/pessimistic attitude and to evaluate their emotional state and welfare. Judgment bias tests have been used several times with dogs (Canis familiaris), in most cases using a spatial test with a bowl placed in ambiguous positions located between a relatively positive trained location (P) which contains a baited bowl and a relatively negative trained location (N) which contains an empty bowl. The latency to approach the bowl in the ambiguous locations is an indicator of the dog's expectation of a positive/negative outcome. However, results from such tests are often inconclusive. For the present study, the judgment bias test performance of 51 shelter dogs and 40 pet dogs was thoroughly analysed. A pattern emerged with shelter dogs behaving in a more pessimistic-like way than pet dogs. However, this difference between the two populations was detected only when analysing the raw latencies to reach the locations and not the more commonly applied adjusted score (i.e. average latency values). Furthermore, several methodological caveats were found. First of all, a non-negligible percentage of dogs did not pass the training phase, possibly due to the experimental paradigm not being fully suited for this species. Second, results showed a high intra-dog variability in response to the trained locations, i.e. the dogs' responses were not consistent throughout the test, suggesting that animals may not have fully learned the association between locations and their outcomes. Third, dogs did not always behave differently towards adjacent locations, raising doubts about the animals' ability to discriminate between locations. Finally, a potential influence of the researcher's presence on dogs' performance emerged from analyses. The implications of these findings and potential solutions are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlotta Burani
- Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
| | - Shanis Barnard
- Animal Behaviour Centre, School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Deborah Wells
- Animal Behaviour Centre, School of Psychology, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom
| | - Annalisa Pelosi
- Dipartimento di Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
| | - Paola Valsecchi
- Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, della Vita e della Sostenibilità Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma, Italia
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Effects of different social experiences on emotional state in mice. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15255. [PMID: 32943726 PMCID: PMC7498458 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71994-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2020] [Accepted: 08/25/2020] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
A comprehensive understanding of animals' emotions can be achieved by combining cognitive, behavioural, and physiological measures. Applying such a multi-method approach, we here examined the emotional state of mice after they had made one of three different social experiences: either a mildly "adverse", a "beneficial", or a "neutral" experience. Using a recently established touchscreen paradigm, cognitive judgement bias was assessed twice, once before and once after the respective experience. Anxiety-like behaviour was examined using a standardised battery of behavioural tests and faecal corticosterone metabolite concentrations were measured. Surprisingly, only minor effects of the social experiences on the animals' cognitive judgement bias and no effects on anxiety-like behaviour and corticosterone metabolite levels were found. It might be speculated that the experiences provided were not strong enough to exert the expected impact on the animals' emotional state. Alternatively, the intensive training procedure necessary for cognitive judgement bias testing might have had a cognitive enrichment effect, potentially countering external influences. While further investigations are required to ascertain the specific causes underlying our findings, the present study adds essential empirical data to the so far scarce amount of studies combining cognitive, behavioural, and physiological measures of emotional state in mice.
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Vojtkovská V, Voslářová E, Večerek V. Methods of Assessment of the Welfare of Shelter Cats: A Review. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10091527. [PMID: 32872242 PMCID: PMC7552334 DOI: 10.3390/ani10091527] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2020] [Revised: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
At any moment, there are millions of cats housed in foster care facilities for abandoned and stray animals for various reasons worldwide. Care, management and regulation among these facilities differ. Moreover, shelters can never substitute the full comfort of a good home for the animal, and the welfare of cats in shelters is a subject of discussion in many respects. Cats are animals sensitive to changes; for most of them, placement in a shelter is a stressful experience because of changes in routine, environment and the presence of other animals. Stress is reflected in changes in behaviour, causes fluctuations in physiological values and disrupts the immune system, which is a predisposition to the development or reactivation of disease. Evaluation of the presence and intensity of negative impacts is possible through the use of evaluation tools based on indicators that help set the environment and management of keeping so as to disrupt the quality of life as little as possible. Although a comprehensive and valid welfare tool that would evaluate animal-based and at the same time resource-based (or management-based) indicators of cats in shelters is not currently available, it is possible to use partial evaluation of individual welfare indicators to assess welfare. This review aims to provide the readers with an insight into current options of assessment of the welfare of cats in shelters with an emphasis on behavioural, physiological and health indicators with an application in both practical and scientific contexts.
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Košťál Ľ, Skalná Z, Pichová K. Use of cognitive bias as a welfare tool in poultry. J Anim Sci 2020; 98:S63-S79. [PMID: 32016360 PMCID: PMC7433926 DOI: 10.1093/jas/skaa039] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2019] [Accepted: 02/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In human psychology, the link between cognition and emotions is broadly accepted. However, the idea of using the interaction between cognition and emotions as a tool for a better understanding of animal emotions or for welfare assessment is relatively new. The first avian species used in cognitive bias tests was the European starling followed by the domestic chicken and other species. The most frequently used paradigm is the affect-induced judgment bias. There are many variations of the judgment bias tests in birds. The test itself is preceded by discrimination training. Discrimination tasks vary from visual cue discrimination, discrimination of time intervals to spatial location discrimination. During the discrimination training, birds flip or do not flip the lids of the food dishes, and their latency to approach the cues in a straight alley maze, in a two-choice arena, or different locations in spatial judgment task arena are measured. Alternately, the birds fulfill operant tasks in a Skinner box. Before or after the discrimination training phase, birds are subjected to manipulations that are hypothesized to induce positive or negative emotional states. In the last stage, birds are subjected to judgment bias tests. The assumption is that animals in a negative affective state would more likely respond to ambiguous cues, as if they predict the negative event, than animals in a more positive state. However, the results of some avian studies are inconsistent, particularly those studying the effect of environmental enrichment. In starlings, each of the three studies has supplied conflicting results. In poultry, none of the four studies demonstrated a positive effect of environmental enrichment on emotional states. Only the study using unpredictable stressors in combination with environmental complexity showed that animals kept in a more complex environment are more optimistic. Manipulation of the social environment seems to be more effective in judgment bias induction. Conflicting results could be attributable to the design of the tests, the manner of affect induction, or the data analysis. Further optimization and validation of avian cognitive bias tests could help to avoid problems such as the loss of ambiguity. New methods of attention and memory bias testing are promising. However, regardless of the abovementioned complications, a cognitive bias paradigm is a valuable tool, which can help us better understand avian emotions and assess poultry welfare.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ľubor Košťál
- Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Zuzana Skalná
- Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
| | - Katarína Pichová
- Centre of Biosciences, Institute of Animal Biochemistry and Genetics, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia
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Kahnau P, Habedank A, Diederich K, Lewejohann L. Behavioral Methods for Severity Assessment. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10071136. [PMID: 32635341 PMCID: PMC7401632 DOI: 10.3390/ani10071136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2020] [Revised: 06/29/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary In 2017, 9.4 million animals were used for research and testing in the European Union. Animal testing always entails the potential for harm caused to the animals. In order to minimize animal suffering, it is of ethical and scientific interest to have a research-based severity assessment of animal experiments. In the past, many methods have been developed to investigate animal suffering. Initially, the focus was on physiological parameters, such as body weight or glucocorticoids as an indicator of stress. In addition, the animals’ behavior has come more into focus and has been included as an indicator of severity. However, in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of animal suffering, an animal’s individual perspective should also be taken into account. Preference tests might be used, for example, to “ask” animals what they prefer, and providing such goods in turn allows, among other things, to improve housing conditions. In this review, different methods are introduced, which can be used to investigate and evaluate animal suffering and well-being with a special focus on animal-centric strategies. Abstract It has become mandatory for the application for allowance of animal experimentation to rate the severity of the experimental procedures. In order to minimize suffering related to animal experimentation it is therefore crucial to develop appropriate methods for the assessment of animal suffering. Physiological parameters such as hormones or body weight are used to assess stress in laboratory animals. However, such physiological parameters alone are often difficult to interpret and leave a wide scope for interpretation. More recently, behavior, feelings and emotions have come increasingly into the focus of welfare research. Tests like preference tests or cognitive bias tests give insight on how animals evaluate certain situations or objects, how they feel and what their emotional state is. These methods should be combined in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the well-being of laboratory animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pia Kahnau
- German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), 12277 Berlin, Germany; (A.H.); (K.D.); (L.L.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +49-30-18412-29202
| | - Anne Habedank
- German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), 12277 Berlin, Germany; (A.H.); (K.D.); (L.L.)
| | - Kai Diederich
- German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), 12277 Berlin, Germany; (A.H.); (K.D.); (L.L.)
| | - Lars Lewejohann
- German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), German Center for the Protection of Laboratory Animals (Bf3R), 12277 Berlin, Germany; (A.H.); (K.D.); (L.L.)
- Institute of Animal Welfare, Animal Behavior and Laboratory Animal Science, Freie Universität Berlin, 14163 Berlin, Germany
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Subordination in female rats impedes learning as determined by a judgment bias training protocol. J Vet Behav 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jveb.2020.05.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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43
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The nuts and bolts of animal emotion. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 113:273-286. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2019] [Revised: 10/28/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
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Aggressive encounters lead to negative affective state in fish. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0231330. [PMID: 32287305 PMCID: PMC7156048 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0231330] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2019] [Accepted: 03/20/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals show various behavioural, neural and physiological changes in response to losing aggressive encounters. Here, we investigated affective state, which are emotion-like processes influenced by positive or negative experiences, in a territorial fish following aggressive encounters and explore links to bold/shy behavioural traits. Eighteen 15-month old Murray cod (Maccullochella peelii) received three tests in order to determine bold/shy behavioural traits then underwent a typical go/no-go judgement bias (JB) test. The JB apparatus had five adjacent chambers with access provided by a sliding door and fish underwent a training procedure to enter a chamber at one end of the apparatus to receive a food reward but were chased using a net if they entered the chamber at the opposite end. Only one third (N = 6) of fish successfully completed the training procedure (trained fish), and the remaining 12 fish failed to reach the learning criterion (untrained fish). Trained fish housed with a larger aggressive Murray cod for 24 h were significantly less likely to enter intermediate chambers during probe tests compared to control fish, demonstrating a pessimistic response. Trained fish showed “bolder” responses in emergence and conspecific inspection tests than untrained fish, suggesting that shyer individuals were less able to apply a learned behaviour in a novel environment. Our limited sample was biased towards bold individuals but supports the hypothesis that losing an aggressive encounter leads to pessimistic decision-making.
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Pronounced Inter-Individual Variation in Plasma Cortisol Response to Fluoxetine Hydrochloride in the Pig. Animals (Basel) 2020; 10:ani10030504. [PMID: 32197320 PMCID: PMC7143575 DOI: 10.3390/ani10030504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 03/13/2020] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Holistic animal welfare assessment requires measures for emotional (affective) state, in particular positive states. Pharmacological agents such as antidepressants that create a predictable positive affective state can be valuable tools to assess novel welfare biomarkers. However, efficacy of pharmacological action in the brain needs to be demonstrated before such an approach is applicable. Counterintuitively, in humans and sheep, effective delivery of antidepressant agent, i.e., selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, has been demonstrated by an increase in downstream cortisol levels. Here, we tested the efficacy of measuring circulating cortisol as an indicator for effective delivery of a single intravenous dose of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine hydrochloride to the pig brain. Antidepressant treatment resulted in increased plasma cortisol levels 15–165 min after treatment as compared with saline controls, suggesting that, similar to the other species, plasma cortisol is an indicator of fluoxetine hydrochloride efficacy. However, individual cortisol profiles of pigs treated with the antidepressant were highly variable with either the expected—an unorthodox, or no response. We conclude that significant inter-individual variation in cortisol response currently precludes the use of cortisol as a reporter for fluoxetine hydrochloride efficacy in the pig. These data need to be verified in a larger study. Abstract Animal welfare assessment requires measures for positive affective state. Pharmacological agents that manipulate affective state can be used to evaluate novel biomarkers for affective state assessment. However, to validate that an agent has modified brain function, a reliable indicator is required. Circulating cortisol has been used as a reporter for effective delivery of the antidepressant selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluoxetine hydrochloride to the brain in humans and sheep. Here, we tested cortisol as a reporter for effective delivery of fluoxetine hydrochloride to the pig brain. We hypothesized that following administration of SSRI, innervation of the serotonergic reward pathway would result in activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to increased circulating cortisol levels. Large White-Landrace gilts received either a single intravenous dose of 100 mg fluoxetine hydrochloride suspended in 10 mL saline (n = 4), or 10 mL saline alone (n = 4). Blood samples were collected every 15 min for one hour prior to, and six hours post-treatment. The interaction of treatment x time on mean plasma cortisol levels between 15–165 min post-treatment was significant (p = 0.048) with highest cortisol concentrations of SSRI treated pigs versus controls (+ 98%) at 135 min post-treatment. However, individual cortisol profiles after SSRI treatment revealed high inter-individual variation in response. We conclude that, while combined data imply that plasma cortisol may be a readout for SSRI efficacy, inter-individual variation in SSRI response may preclude application of this approach in the pig. Given the current limited sample size, further research to confirm these findings is needed.
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Adriaense JEC, Koski SE, Huber L, Lamm C. Challenges in the comparative study of empathy and related phenomena in animals. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 112:62-82. [PMID: 32001272 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2019] [Revised: 12/06/2019] [Accepted: 01/18/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
The aim of this review is to discuss recent arguments and findings in the comparative study of empathy. Based on a multidisciplinary approach including psychology and ethology, we review the non-human animal literature concerning theoretical frameworks, methodology, and research outcomes. One specific objective is to highlight discrepancies between theory and empirical findings, and to discuss ambiguities present in current data and their interpretation. In particular, we focus on emotional contagion and its experimental investigation, and on consolation and targeted helping as measures for sympathy. Additionally, we address the feasibility of comparing across species with behavioural data alone. One main conclusion of our review is that animal research on empathy still faces the challenge of closing the gap between theoretical concepts and empirical evidence. To advance our knowledge, we propose to focus more on the emotional basis of empathy, rather than on possibly ambiguous behavioural indicators, and we provide suggestions to overcome the limitations of previous research .
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Affiliation(s)
- J E C Adriaense
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Cognitive Biology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
| | - S E Koski
- Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Unioninkatu 35, 00014 Helsinki, Finland
| | - L Huber
- Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - C Lamm
- Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit, Department of Cognition, Emotion, and Methods in Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Vienna Cognitive Science Hub, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
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Mendl M, Paul ES. Animal affect and decision-making. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 112:144-163. [PMID: 31991192 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2019] [Revised: 12/11/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The scientific study of animal affect (emotion) is an area of growing interest. Whilst research on mechanism and causation has predominated, the study of function is less advanced. This is not due to a lack of hypotheses; in both humans and animals, affective states are frequently proposed to play a pivotal role in coordinating adaptive responses and decisions. However, exactly how they might do this (what processes might implement this function) is often left rather vague. Here we propose a framework for integrating animal affect and decision-making that is couched in modern decision theory and employs an operational definition that aligns with dimensional concepts of core affect and renders animal affect empirically tractable. We develop a model of how core affect, including short-term (emotion-like) and longer-term (mood-like) states, influence decision-making via processes that we label affective options, affective predictions, and affective outcomes and which correspond to similar concepts in schema of the links between human emotion and decision-making. Our framework is generalisable across species and generates questions for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Mendl
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, UK.
| | - Elizabeth S Paul
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, UK
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Neville V, Nakagawa S, Zidar J, Paul ES, Lagisz M, Bateson M, Løvlie H, Mendl M. Pharmacological manipulations of judgement bias: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 108:269-286. [PMID: 31747552 PMCID: PMC6966323 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2019] [Revised: 11/13/2019] [Accepted: 11/13/2019] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
Validated measures of animal affect are crucial to research spanning numerous disciplines. Judgement bias, which assesses decision-making under ambiguity, is a promising measure of animal affect. One way of validating this measure is to administer drugs with affect-altering properties in humans to non-human animals and determine whether the predicted judgement biases are observed. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using data from 20 published research articles that use this approach, from which 557 effect sizes were extracted. Pharmacological manipulations overall altered judgement bias at the probe cues as predicted. However, there were several moderating factors including the neurobiological target of the drug, whether the drug induced a relatively positive or negative affective state in humans, dosage, and the presented cue. This may partially reflect interference from adverse effects of the drug which should be considered when interpreting results. Thus, the overall pattern of change in animal judgement bias appears to reflect the affect-altering properties of drugs in humans, and hence may be a valuable measure of animal affective valence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikki Neville
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford BS40 5DU, United Kingdom.
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Josefina Zidar
- The Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, IFM Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Elizabeth S Paul
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
| | - Malgorzata Lagisz
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
| | - Melissa Bateson
- Institute of Neuroscience and Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE2 4HH, United Kingdom
| | - Hanne Løvlie
- The Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, IFM Biology, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Michael Mendl
- Centre for Behavioural Biology, Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Langford BS40 5DU, United Kingdom
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Trevarthen AC, Kappel S, Roberts C, Finnegan EM, Paul ES, Planas-Sitjà I, Mendl MT, Fureix C. Measuring affect-related cognitive bias: Do mice in opposite affective states react differently to negative and positive stimuli? PLoS One 2019; 14:e0226438. [PMID: 31887167 PMCID: PMC6936852 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Affect-driven cognitive biases can be used as an indicator of affective (emotional) state. Since humans in negative affective states demonstrate greater responses to negatively-valenced stimuli, we investigated putative affect-related bias in mice by monitoring their response to unexpected, task-irrelevant stimuli of different valence. Thirty-one C57BL/6J and 31 DBA/2J females were individually trained to return to their home-cage in a runway. Mice then underwent an affective manipulation acutely inducing a negative (NegAff) or a comparatively less negative (CompLessNeg) affective state before immediately being tested in the runway with either an 'attractive' (familiar food) or 'threatening' (flashing light) stimulus. Mice were subsequently trained and tested again (same affective manipulation) with the alternative stimulus. As predicted, mice were slower to approach the light and spent more time with the food. DBA/2J mice were slower than C57BL/6J overall. Contrary to predictions, NegAff mice tended to approach both stimuli more readily than CompLessNeg mice, especially the light, and even more so for DBA/2Js. Although the stimuli successfully differentiated the response of mice to unexpected, task-irrelevant stimuli, further refinement may be required to disentangle the effects of affect manipulation and arousal on the response to valenced stimuli. The results also highlight the significant importance of considering strain differences when developing cognitive tasks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna C. Trevarthen
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Kappel
- School of Biological & Marine Science, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom
| | - Claire Roberts
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Emily M. Finnegan
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Elizabeth S. Paul
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Isaac Planas-Sitjà
- Department of Biological Sciences, Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Michael T. Mendl
- Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Carole Fureix
- School of Biological & Marine Science, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom
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Krakenberg V, von Kortzfleisch VT, Kaiser S, Sachser N, Richter SH. Differential Effects of Serotonin Transporter Genotype on Anxiety-Like Behavior and Cognitive Judgment Bias in Mice. Front Behav Neurosci 2019; 13:263. [PMID: 31849623 PMCID: PMC6902087 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00263] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
In humans, the short allele of a common polymorphism in the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene is associated with a higher risk to develop depression and anxiety disorders. Furthermore, individuals carrying this allele are characterized by negative judgment biases, as they tend to interpret ambiguous information in a more pessimistic way. 5-HTT knockout mice, lacking the 5-HTT gene either homo- or heterozygously, provide a widely used model organism for the study of symptoms related to human anxiety disorders. In the present study, we aimed to prove the anxiety-like phenotype of the 5-HTT mouse model, and to investigate whether 5-HTT genotype also causes differences in judgment bias. While our results confirm that homozygous 5-HTT knockout mice display highest levels of anxiety-like behavior, it was decreased in heterozygous mice. Against our expectations, we did not detect differences in the animals’ judgment bias. These results indicate that at least in mice the association between 5-HTT genotype and judgment bias is not straightforward and that other factors, including multiple genes as well as environmental influences, are implicated in the modulation of judgment biases. More research is needed to gain further insights into their function as potential endophenotypes for psychopathology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktoria Krakenberg
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Vanessa Tabea von Kortzfleisch
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Sylvia Kaiser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Norbert Sachser
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - S Helene Richter
- Department of Behavioural Biology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.,Otto Creutzfeldt Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Münster, Münster, Germany
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