Consistency, transitivity and inter-relationships between measures of choice in environmental preference tests with chickens

Browne, William J.; Caplen, Gina; Edgar, Joanne; Wilson, Lorna Rachel Maven; Nicol, CJ

doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2009.10.004

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Significantly more head movements were also found during the viewing period when a mealworm reward was available, which fits with previous work investigating behavioural indicators of arousal in anticipation of a mealworm reward in chickens [18]. Shorter latencies to reach the pen when mealworms were present confirm that hens were more motivated to obtain this reward [26]. The three measures were also correlated and, combined, suggest that hens experienced increased arousal in anticipation of a high-quality goal and, crucially, that these measures were detectable around the time of decision-making.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Behavioural and physiological expression of arousal during decision-making in laying hens

Davies¹,

Radford²,

Nicol³

2014

Physiology & Behavior

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Human studies suggest that prior emotional responses are stored within the brain as associations called somatic markers and are recalled to inform rapid decision-making. Consequently, behavioural and physiological indicators of arousal are detectable in humans when making decisions, and influence decision outcomes. Here we provide the first evidence of anticipatory arousal around the time of decision-making in non-human animals. Chickens were subjected to five experimental conditions, which varied in the number (one versus two), type (mealworms or empty bowl) and choice (same or different) of T-maze goals. As indicators of arousal, heart-rate and head movements were measured when goals were visible but not accessible; latency to reach the goal indicated motivation. We found a greater increase in heart-rate from baseline to the goal-viewing period, more head movements and shorter latencies in all conditions including mealworms compared to those with empty bowls. More head movements when two mealworm bowls were available compared to just one, and prior to occasions when hens accessed an empty bowl rather than declining to move, showed that arousal preceded and influenced decision-making. Our results provide an important foundation for investigating arousal during animal decision-making and suggest that the somatic-marker hypothesis might not only apply to humans.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Behavioural and physiological expression of arousal during decision-making in laying hens

Davies¹,

Radford²,

Nicol³

2014

Physiology & Behavior

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“…For example, Browne et al (2010) concluded they had observed the same transitivity as in humans, based on a symbolic distance effect both for response accuracy (housing preferences for their non-human participants -adult hens) and for RT (Response Times for how fast hens made their choice of housing). Indeed, when the symbolic distance effect is not precisely enough modelled, Dual Transitive 32 some theorists question the theoretical framework itself.…”

Section: Dual Transitive 26mentioning

confidence: 95%

“…Now, consistent with the originators of the extensive-training paradigm, virtually all the above studies used implied transitive series of at least five items. However, the finding of non-humans being transitive reasoners is not just restricted to extensive-training tasks using five or more items (Browne et al, 2010). For example, it is perhaps ironic that one of the very few tasks seeming to unambiguously show monkeys able to make transitive deductions, in fact used a three-term extensive-training task but it had elements of a non-training task for the critical comparisons (Addessi et al, 2008).…”

Section: Dual Transitive 26mentioning

confidence: 99%

The case for a dual-process theory of transitive reasoning

Wright¹

2012

Developmental Review

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“…Moreover, the method to detect an animal’s preference should consider individual variations among the preferred items, once various studies have demonstrated significant individual variability26272829.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…). However, various studies have demonstrated significant individual variability even when preference responses are analysed from a few tests ( e.g 26272829…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A history-based method to estimate animal preference

Maia

Volpato

2016

Sci Rep

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Giving animals their preferred items (e.g., environmental enrichment) has been suggested as a method to improve animal welfare, thus raising the question of how to determine what animals want. Most studies have employed choice tests for detecting animal preferences. However, whether choice tests represent animal preferences remains a matter of controversy. Here, we present a history-based method to analyse data from individual choice tests to discriminate between preferred and non-preferred items. This method differentially weighs choices from older and recent tests performed over time. Accordingly, we provide both a preference index that identifies preferred items contrasted with non-preferred items in successive multiple-choice tests and methods to detect the strength of animal preferences for each item. We achieved this goal by investigating colour choices in the Nile tilapia fish species.

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Consistency, transitivity and inter-relationships between measures of choice in environmental preference tests with chickens

Cited by 22 publications

References 28 publications

Behavioural and physiological expression of arousal during decision-making in laying hens

Behavioural and physiological expression of arousal during decision-making in laying hens

The case for a dual-process theory of transitive reasoning

A history-based method to estimate animal preference

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