Behavioral Evidence of Felt Emotions

Weary, Daniel M.; Droege, Paula; Braithwaite, Valerie

doi:10.1016/bs.asb.2017.02.002

Cited by 41 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…For instance, calves almost always only touched the nS− bottle with their nose, but directly latched onto the nipple of the nS+ bottle. The expression of micro-behaviors provides fertile ground for predictions based upon the different expectations calves had when approaching different locations; these predictions should be made explicit and tested in future research (Weary et al, 2017).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pain-Induced Pessimism and Anhedonia: Evidence From a Novel Probability-Based Judgment Bias Test

Lecorps

Ludwig

Keyserlingk

et al. 2019

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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Judgment bias tests (JBTs) use responses to ambiguous stimuli to infer emotional states in animals. However, with repeated testing, animals can learn to recognize the previously ambiguous stimuli rendering the test less effective. We describe a novel approach to this problem. Calves (n = 9) were trained in a spatial discrimination task to associate five locations with a specific probability of reward/punishment (Positive: 100%/0%; Near-Positive: 75%/25%; Middle: 50%/50%; Near-Negative: 25%/75%; Negative: 0%/100%). As predicted, calves showed increased latencies to touch locations that had higher probabilities of punishment and lower probabilities of reward. To validate our methodology for detecting mood changes, we followed calves in the hours after routine hot-iron disbudding, a time when animals were likely experiencing post-operative inflammatory pain. At 6 h after disbudding, when inflammatory pain was likely to peak, calves expressed increased approach latencies to the Positive, Near-Positive and Middle locations. These results suggest that calves perceived the value of the reward as being lower (i.e., anhedonia) or had lower expectations of positive outcomes (i.e., pessimism). When re-tested at 22 and 70 h after disbudding, we found no evidence of pessimism or anhedonia (i.e., latencies had returned to baseline). We conclude that our probability-based judgment bias task can detect pain-induced mood changes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pain-Induced Pessimism and Anhedonia: Evidence From a Novel Probability-Based Judgment Bias Test

Lecorps

Ludwig

Keyserlingk

et al. 2019

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

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“…These results suggest that pain can be a factor in the impaired walking ability: impaired birds experienced pain relief from the drugs, which improved their performance in the mobility tests. This commonly used experimental setup to assess the involvement of pain (see more in Weary et al. (2017) ) has until now not been used to investigate the possible relationship between impaired walking ability and pain in broilers when kept in their home environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are changes in behavior of fast-growing broilers with slight gait impairment (GS0-2) related to pain?

et al. 2021

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Impaired walking ability in terms of slight or definite defects is more common in broiler production than lameness that obviously hinders movement, but it has received limited scientific attention. This study aimed to compare behavior of conventional broilers with impaired walking ability (assessed as gait score ( GS ) 2) with those walking normally (GS0) and those with only a slight gait defect (GS1). Behavior in the home environment was registered, and an analgesic intervention to quantify changes in time budgets indicating pain relief was applied. The study included 192 Ross 308 broilers. On day 27 of age, the birds were distributed as evenly as possible into birds of GS0 and GS2 of each sex based on obtained gait score. Following this, each experimental bird was housed with 3 companion birds. On days 30 and 32 of age, the behavior in the home pens was recorded. All experimental birds were injected with the NSAID carprofen on one of the 2 d and saline on the other. The statistical analyses used the GS scored on the day of recording as explanatory factor. Compared to GS0 birds, GS2 birds tended to be more inactive (mean (CI): 4,193 (3,971–4416) vs. 4,005 (3,753–4,257) s; P = 0.074), spent more time sitting while feeding (306 (266–353) vs. 213 (180–251) s; P = 0.026), were less likely to perch (probability: 0.78 (0.69–0.85) vs. 0.91 (0.85–0.95); P = 0.012), and spent less time performing comfort behavior (749 (689–814) s vs. 875 (792–967) s; P = 0.043). Compared to GS1 birds, GS2 birds spent more time inactive (GS1: 4,022 (3,818–4225) s; P = 0.027), less time foraging (289 (253–329) vs. 347 (309–388) s; P = 0.047), and were less likely to perch (GS1: 0.90 (0.86–0.93); P = 0.001). For some of these behavioral variables, administration of carprofen led to behavioral changes across the GSs, which may suggest that the behavioral expression of the broilers was limited by pain. These findings are of relevance to animal welfare, but the underlying causes are still not fully clarified.

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“…felt emotions) are the animals’ conscious awareness of these responses 27 . Felt emotions can be inferred in animals from a combination of evidence from behavioral, neurobiological and physiological responses 28 , functional homology 29 , and the use of specific drug treatments that target feelings of emotions in humans 30 . The aim of this study was to assess the effects of the benzodiazepine midazolam on rat individual thresholds of aversion to CO 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation in the onset of CO2-induced anxiety in female Sprague Dawley rats

Améndola

Ratuski

Weary

2019

Sci Rep

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Carbon dioxide (CO2) is commonly used to kill laboratory rats. Rats find CO2 aversive and aversion varies between individuals, indicating that rats vary in CO2 sensitivity. Healthy humans experience feelings of anxiety at concentrations similar to those avoided by rats, and these feelings are diminished by the administration of benzodiazepines. Our aim was to assess the effects of the benzodiazepine midazolam on individual thresholds of rat aversion to CO2. Six female Sprague Dawley rats were repeatedly exposed to CO2 gradual-fill in approach-avoidance testing. The first three exposures were to a control-treatment followed by three exposures to midazolam (0.375 mg/kg). Within each treatment aversion to CO2 was not affected by exposure number; however, tolerance increased from an average of 10.7% CO2 avoided during control sessions, to 15.5% CO2 avoided when treated with midazolam. These results indicate that rats experience anxiety when exposed to CO2, and that variation in rat CO2 sensitivity is driven by individual differences in the onset of these feelings of anxiety. No rat tolerated CO2 concentrations required to induce loss of consciousness.

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Behavioral Evidence of Felt Emotions

Cited by 41 publications

References 46 publications

Pain-Induced Pessimism and Anhedonia: Evidence From a Novel Probability-Based Judgment Bias Test

Pain-Induced Pessimism and Anhedonia: Evidence From a Novel Probability-Based Judgment Bias Test

Are changes in behavior of fast-growing broilers with slight gait impairment (GS0-2) related to pain?

Variation in the onset of CO2-induced anxiety in female Sprague Dawley rats

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