Looking on the bright side of bias—Validation of an affective bias test for laboratory mice

Graulich, Dana Marie; Kaiser, Sylvia; Sachser, Norbert; Richter, S. Helene

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2016.05.011

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Cognitive bias tasks can deliver valuable insights into animal emotions and their perception of situations [ 42 ], but most cognitive bias tasks used with rodents currently require intensive training and response behaviours may be sensitive to the test environment. However, some home cage cognitive bias tasks such as that suggested by Graulich et al (2016) [ 145 ] are based on preferences for different substrates containing food rewards. Tests like these are applicable in the home cage and may hold the potential to assess affective states in mice without the confounds that can occur in an unfamiliar test area [ 145 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, some home cage cognitive bias tasks such as that suggested by Graulich et al (2016) [ 145 ] are based on preferences for different substrates containing food rewards. Tests like these are applicable in the home cage and may hold the potential to assess affective states in mice without the confounds that can occur in an unfamiliar test area [ 145 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

To Group or Not to Group? Good Practice for Housing Male Laboratory Mice

Krakoff

Hawkins

Mendl

2017

Animals

151

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Simple SummaryWild mice live in territories inhabited by one adult male, several females, and their offspring. This cannot be replicated in the laboratory, so male mice are usually housed in single-sex groups or individually. However, there can be serious animal welfare problems associated with both these approaches, such as lack of social contact when housed individually or aggression between males when kept in groups. Group housing is widely recommended to give male laboratory mice the opportunity to behave as ‘social animals’, but social stress can be detrimental to the welfare of these animals, even without injurious fighting. All of this can also affect the quality of the science, giving rise to ethical concerns. This review discusses whether it is in the best welfare interests of male mice to be housed in groups, or alone. We conclude that it is not possible to give general recommendations for good practice for housing male laboratory mice, as responses to single- and group-housing can be highly context-dependent. The welfare implications of housing protocols should be researched and considered in each case. AbstractIt is widely recommended to group-house male laboratory mice because they are ‘social animals’, but male mice do not naturally share territories and aggression can be a serious welfare problem. Even without aggression, not all animals within a group will be in a state of positive welfare. Rather, many male mice may be negatively affected by the stress of repeated social defeat and subordination, raising concerns about welfare and also research validity. However, individual housing may not be an appropriate solution, given the welfare implications associated with no social contact. An essential question is whether it is in the best welfare interests of male mice to be group- or singly housed. This review explores the likely impacts—positive and negative—of both housing conditions, presents results of a survey of current practice and awareness of mouse behavior, and includes recommendations for good practice and future research. We conclude that whether group- or single-housing is better (or less worse) in any situation is highly context-dependent according to several factors including strain, age, social position, life experiences, and housing and husbandry protocols. It is important to recognise this and evaluate what is preferable from animal welfare and ethical perspectives in each case.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

To Group or Not to Group? Good Practice for Housing Male Laboratory Mice

Krakoff

Hawkins

Mendl

2017

Animals

151

106

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In other studies, punishment is not used at all (Graulich et al, 2016; Hintze et al, 2018; Novak et al, 2016; Verjat et al, 2021), as it is discussed that punishment during conditioning and in the test itself may already have an influence on the cognitive bias (Roelofs et al, 2016). However, conditioning with punishment seems to be easier to learn and thus seems to succeed faster (Lagisz et al, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an IntelliCage based Cognitive Bias Test for Mice

Kahnau

Jaap

Urmersbach

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The cognitive bias test is used to measure the emotional state of animals with regard to future expectations. Thus, the test offers a unique possibility to assess animal welfare with regard to housing and testing conditions of laboratory animals. So far, however, the performance of such a test is time consuming and requires the presence of an experimenter. Therefore, we developed an automated and home-cage based cognitive bias test based on the IntelliCage system. We present several developmental steps to improve the experimental design leading to a successful measurement of cognitive bias in group-housed female C57BL/6J mice. The automated and home-cage based test design allows to obtain individual data from group-housed mice, to test the mice in their familiar environment, and during their active phase. By connecting the test-cage to the home-cage via a gating system, the mice participated in the test on a self-chosen schedule, indicating high motivation to actively participate in the experiment. We propose that this should have a positive effect on the animals themselves as well as on the data. Unexpectedly, the mice showed an optimistic cognitive bias after enrichment was removed and additional restraining. An optimistic expectation of the future as a consequence of worsening environmental conditions, however, can also be interpreted as an active coping strategy in which a potential profit is sought to be maximized through a higher willingness to take risks.

show abstract

“…Affective bias is slightly different from memory bias yet related as it refers to a bias in preference, which is linked with memory and learning processes (Stuart et al 2013): in brief, one's preference for particular resources are based on one's affective state at the time of first encounter with the resources. Affective bias tests have been applied to rats (Stuart et al 2013, Stuart et al 2015, Hinchcliffe et al 2017) and mice (Graulich et al 2016). In practice, the rodents are exposed to two rewards of equal value.…”

Section: Memory Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is hypothesised that rodents will prefer the second reward when it is associated with the positive treatment, and avoid the second reward when it is associated with the negative treatment (Stuart et al 2013, Hinchcliffe et al 2017. Affective bias tests would thus offer the possibility to discriminate between affective states of different valence; but some suggest that their implementation should be restricted to studies of short-term affective manipulations (Graulich et al 2016).…”

Section: Memory Biasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mood swings in cows : Cognitive and physiological assessments

Kremer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The study of animal emotion, as with its human equivalent, can be confusing due to the complicated and inconsistent use of terminology, and the number of interlinked fields and topics it encompasses. With this review, we aim to provide an up-to-date and, to the best of our knowledge, complete overview of the field of animal emotion, especially intended for newcomers to the field who wish to get a grasp of this field. We start by tackling the terminology and proposing definitions of commonly used terms, and present the different frameworks used for the study of animal emotion. Here, we heavily draw from human literature, as the definitions of animal emotion are derived originally from human research. We follow-up with an overview of current methodologies for the study of animal emotion, in particular the valence dimension of emotion, and include some of the associated limitations linked to these methodologies. We end by pointing out key areas for future research.

show abstract

Looking on the bright side of bias—Validation of an affective bias test for laboratory mice

Cited by 8 publications

References 38 publications

To Group or Not to Group? Good Practice for Housing Male Laboratory Mice

To Group or Not to Group? Good Practice for Housing Male Laboratory Mice

Development of an IntelliCage based Cognitive Bias Test for Mice

Mood swings in cows : Cognitive and physiological assessments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About