Vocal contagion of emotions in non-human animals

Briefer, Elodie F.

doi:10.1098/rspb.2017.2783

Cited by 69 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 79 publications

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“…The communication of emotions to conspecifics can play a key role in the regulation of social interactions (e.g., for group defense, play, agonistic behavior, maternal nursing, mating competition). Moreover, the expression of emotions can lead to the sharing of affective states between individuals ( 15 ). In gregarious species, synchronized emotional states within a group of individuals can be highly adaptive ( 16 – 18 ) and this phenomenon has been suggested to be a crucial element in the evolution of empathy ( 19 , 20 ).…”

Section: The Social Component In Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vocalizations in particular have been shown to reflect emotional states in many species, and might therefore serve as a crucial channel for emotional contagion ( 15 , 38 ). For example, pig vocalizations elicited during different stressful situations were related to the specific type of stress ( 14 ).…”

Section: Evidence For Transmission Of Emotions In Livestockmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To date, the question of to what extent farm animals are able to perceive the emotions of conspecifics through behavioral, but also acoustic and olfactory cues and whether emotional contagion occurs as a result is still debated. However, considering the evidence for perception and contagion of emotions in several non-livestock taxa ( 15 ), farm animals are likely to also share these empathic capacities. More studies on emotional contagion in livestock are needed in order to extend our understanding of the impact of this phenomenon on animal welfare, and of the mechanisms underlying it.…”

Section: Evidence For Transmission Of Emotions In Livestockmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Looking on the Bright Side of Livestock Emotions—the Potential of Their Transmission to Promote Positive Welfare

et al. 2018

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Emotions can be defined as an individual's affective reaction to an external and/or internal event that, in turn, generates a simultaneous cascade of behavioral, physiological, and cognitive changes. Those changes that can be perceived by conspecifics have the potential to also affect other's emotional states, a process labeled as “emotional contagion.” Especially in the case of gregarious species, such as livestock, emotional contagion can have an impact on the whole group by, for instance, improving group coordination and strengthening social bonds. We noticed that the current trend of research on emotions in livestock, i.e., investigating affective states as a tool to assess and improve animal welfare, appears to be unbalanced. A majority of studies focuses on the individual rather than the social component of emotions. In this paper, we highlight current limitations in the latter line of research and suggest a stronger emphasis on the mechanisms of how emotions in livestock are transmitted and shared, which could serve as a promising tool to synergistically enhance the welfare of all individuals within a group.

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Section: The Social Component In Emotionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evidence For Transmission Of Emotions In Livestockmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Evidence For Transmission Of Emotions In Livestockmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Looking on the Bright Side of Livestock Emotions—the Potential of Their Transmission to Promote Positive Welfare

et al. 2018

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“…Evidence of emotional contagion in non-human animals' is relatively poor (Edgar et al 2012), despite the potential for transfer of affective states between animals (de Waal 2008). As a result, Briefer (2018) has proposed that future research should focus on strengthening evidence on the vocal contagion of emotions in non-human animals.…”

Section: Effect Of Vocalisations On Emotional and Sensory Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To achieve this, researchers could perform playback experiments that use similarly valenced vocalisations which indicate different levels of arousal, or differently valenced vocalisations indicating similar levels of arousal (Briefer 2018).…”

Section: Effect Of Vocalisations On Emotional and Sensory Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The vocalisations and behaviour of chickens in anticipation of rewards

McGrath¹

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The vocalisations of non-human animals can serve as indicators of motivational or emotional state. The anticipation of rewards activates areas of the brain associated with reward and 'wanting', leading to consummatory behaviour and pleasure. Hence, anticipatory behaviour and vocalisations, prior to consumption of an item, could indicate whether animals are experiencing rewarding environments. This thesis aims to investigate whether domestic chickens Gallus gallus produce specific reward-related vocalisations, and whether they can be understood by humans. It first examines the behaviour of chickens in anticipation of different types of reward. It goes on to characterise the vocalisations made in anticipation of rewards, and explore variations in the acoustic structure of these calls. A playback paradigm is further used to study how other chickens respond to reward-related vocalisations, and whether there is any referential information encoded in these vocalisations. Finally, this project asks whether humans can identify chickens' 'reward' calls, and whether they can perceive the arousal levels or valence represented by these vocalisations.Twelve hens were exposed to a Pavlovian conditioning paradigm, using sound cues to signal the availability of two food rewards (mealworms and the hens' normal food), one non-food reward (a container of dustbathing substrate) and a sound-neutral event (sound cue, no reward). A mutedneutral treatment (no sound cue, no reward) provided a baseline for behavioural and vocal observations. This study revealed that chickens increase their activity levels as a general response to reward. Quantifiable differences in the frequency and duration of goal-directed behaviours indicated that hens ranked the rewards differentially, and appeared to be more motivated to access the dustbathing reward.Hens consistently produced a specific 'reward' call, described elsewhere as a 'food' call, in anticipation of all rewards, including the non-food reward. The cue signalling the dustbathing substrate elicited the highest proportion of these calls, suggesting that this reward induced the most arousal in hens. Variation in the acoustic structure of calls appeared to reflect differences in arousal.The peak frequency of reward calls made in anticipation of the dusty substrate was 45-75 Hz lower (p=0.01) than those made in anticipation of food rewards. This is the first study to reveal that chickens produce a 'reward' call. It also demonstrates that the frequency-related parameters of this call vary according to different contexts.Referential information relating to environmental stimuli, such as a source of food or the presence of a predator, is sometimes encoded in the type, or structural variation, of animal acoustic iii signals. If referential information is encoded in reward calls transmitted by hens, receivers should respond as if they had experienced the stimuli themselves. In this phase of the project, twelve hens were exposed to a playback paradigm using calls recorded from other hens made when antici...

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Emotional contagion in nonhuman animals: A review

Pérez-Manrique

Gomila

2021

WIRES Cognitive Science

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Emotional contagion, the emotional state‐matching of an individual with another, seems to be crucial for many social species. In recent years evidence on emotional contagion in different animal species has accumulated. However, despite its adaptative advantages and its presumed simplicity, the study and direct demonstration of this phenomenon present more complexities than previously thought. For these reasons, a review of the literature on emotional contagion in nonhuman species is timely to integrate current findings. In this paper thus, we carry out a comprehensive review of the most relevant studies on emotional contagion in animals and discuss the main problems and challenges of the field. We conclude that more research is needed to broaden our understanding of the mechanisms and functions of emotional contagion and the extent to which this process is present in a wide variety of species. Furthermore, the comparative study of emotional contagion would benefit from the use of systematized paradigms including both behavioral and physiological measures and the simultaneous recording of the responses of the interacting individuals to reliably assess an emotional state‐matching between them and reliable controls. This article is categorized under: Cognitive Biology > Evolutionary Roots of Cognition Psychology > Comparative Psychology Psychology > Emotion and Motivation

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Vocal contagion of emotions in non-human animals

Cited by 69 publications

References 79 publications

Looking on the Bright Side of Livestock Emotions—the Potential of Their Transmission to Promote Positive Welfare

Looking on the Bright Side of Livestock Emotions—the Potential of Their Transmission to Promote Positive Welfare

The vocalisations and behaviour of chickens in anticipation of rewards

Emotional contagion in nonhuman animals: A review

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