Autonomic reactions indicating positive affect during acoustic reward learning in domestic pigs

Zebunke, Manuela; Langbein, Jan; Manteuffel, Gerhard; Puppe, Birger

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.11.023

Cited by 75 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…This, Hagen and Broom argue, provides some evidence that cows can recognize when they have learned something new, and moreover-since heart rate is taken to be an indicator of affective arousal-some evidence that this experience alleviates boredom. Similar studies have been carried out on pigs and goats, with similar results (Puppe et al 2007;Langbein et al 2009;Zebunke et al 2011). This indicates that operant conditioning tasks may constitute a valuable form of cognitive enrichment for farm animals (Manteuffel et al 2009).…”

Section: Risks Of Over-attribution: the Case Of Cognitive Enrichmentsupporting

confidence: 69%

Animal Cognition and Human Values

Birch¹

2018

Philos. of Sci.

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Animal welfare scientists face an acute version of the problem of inductive risk, since they must choose whether or not to affirm attributions of mental states to animals in advisory contexts, knowing that their decisions hold significant consequences for animal welfare. In such contexts, the burden of proof should be sensitive to the moral consequences of error, but a framework for setting appropriate burdens of proof is lacking. Through reflection on two cases-the case of pain, and the case of cognitive enrichment-I arrive at a tentative general framework based on the principle of expected welfare maximization. I then discuss the limitations of this framework and the important questions it leaves open.

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Section: Risks Of Over-attribution: the Case Of Cognitive Enrichmentsupporting

confidence: 69%

Animal Cognition and Human Values

Birch¹

2018

Philos. of Sci.

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“…However, since gilts had a significantly higher LF/HF ratio than the barrows, it is possible to argue that the mechanism was regulated on a different level. The fact that we found no changes in RMSSD and HF, in parameters that were previously used as indicators of vagal activity in cattle (Després et al, 2002;Kovács et al, 2014) and pigs (Zebunke et al, 2011), leads us to assume that our results point to a general increase in sympathetic activation. The increased LF/HF ratio by variations in sympathetic input was interpreted earlier in relation to a stressful context in sheep (Coulon et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 51%

Behaviour, heart rate, and heart rate variability in pigs exposed to novelty

Zupan

Framstad²,

Zanella

2016

R. Bras. Zootec.

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-In the present study, we investigated behavioural responses and determined parameters of heart rate variability (HRV) to elucidate a relative activation of autonomic nervous system (ANS) during baseline (10 min) and in response to potentially stressful situations (10 min) in two pig breeds and sexes. Gilts (n = 21) and barrows (n = 9) of the Landrace × Yorkshire (LY; n = 15) and Landrace/Yorkshire × Landrace/Duroc (LYLD; n = 15) breeds were subjected to a novel object test (NOT) and a novel arena test (NAT). Basal ANS state differed in pigs across breeds but not sexes. Landrace × Yorkshire pigs had a significantly lower basal heart rate (HR) and low-frequency band (LF) with a higher root mean square of successive interbeat intervals (RMSSD) and high-frequency band (HF) than LYLD pigs. In the NOT, despite having similar cardiac responses, gilts had a longer duration of contact with a novel object, higher lying and standing duration, and a lower duration of walking compared with barrows. In the NAT, we found similar behaviour across sexes but a different degree of ANS state, with barrows having a significantly higher increase in LF/HF (power of the low frequency component divided by the power of the high-frequency band) compared with gilts. Landrace/Yorkshire × Landrace/Duroc pigs showed longer duration of contact with a novel object in the NOT accompanied by less lying and standing than LY pigs in both tests. No difference in ANS activation between breeds was found in the NOT. In the NAT, HR increased more from baseline to testing in LY pigs than in LYLD pigs. There is a complex and often contradictory nature of relationships between behaviour and cardiac responses to novelty in pigs of different breeds and sexes.

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“…For example, when conditioned to anticipate a food reward, rats show a significant increase in heart rate while consuming the reward [62]. Although heart rate is mainly a measure of emotional arousal rather than valence [63,64], the increased vasodilatation within the ears together with the simultaneous emission of FM 50 kHz vocalisations may reflect physiological changes in the body indicative of a positive emotional state.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Facial Indicators of Positive Emotions in Rats

et al. 2016

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Until recently, research in animal welfare science has mainly focused on negative experiences like pain and suffering, often neglecting the importance of assessing and promoting positive experiences. In rodents, specific facial expressions have been found to occur in situations thought to induce negatively valenced emotional states (e.g., pain, aggression and fear), but none have yet been identified for positive states. Thus, this study aimed to investigate if facial expressions indicative of positive emotional state are exhibited in rats. Adolescent male Lister Hooded rats (Rattus norvegicus, N = 15) were individually subjected to a Positive and a mildly aversive Contrast Treatment over two consecutive days in order to induce contrasting emotional states and to detect differences in facial expression. The Positive Treatment consisted of playful manual tickling administered by the experimenter, while the Contrast Treatment consisted of exposure to a novel test room with intermittent bursts of white noise. The number of positive ultrasonic vocalisations was greater in the Positive Treatment compared to the Contrast Treatment, indicating the experience of differentially valenced states in the two treatments. The main findings were that Ear Colour became significantly pinker and Ear Angle was wider (ears more relaxed) in the Positive Treatment compared to the Contrast Treatment. All other quantitative and qualitative measures of facial expression, which included Eyeball height to width Ratio, Eyebrow height to width Ratio, Eyebrow Angle, visibility of the Nictitating Membrane, and the established Rat Grimace Scale, did not show differences between treatments. This study contributes to the exploration of positive emotional states, and thus good welfare, in rats as it identified the first facial indicators of positive emotions following a positive heterospecific play treatment. Furthermore, it provides improvements to the photography technique and image analysis for the detection of fine differences in facial expression, and also adds to the refinement of the tickling procedure.

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Autonomic reactions indicating positive affect during acoustic reward learning in domestic pigs

Cited by 75 publications

References 66 publications

Animal Cognition and Human Values

Animal Cognition and Human Values

Behaviour, heart rate, and heart rate variability in pigs exposed to novelty

Facial Indicators of Positive Emotions in Rats

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