Emotion, Pain, & Sentience

Bored at home?—A systematic review on the effect of environmental enrichment on the welfare of laboratory rats and mice

Boredom is an emotional state that occurs when an individual has nothing to do, is not interested in the surrounding, and feels dreary and in a monotony. While this condition is usually defined for humans, it may very well describe...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, HousingAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Mieske, P., Hobbiesiefken, U., Fischer-Tenhagen, C. et al. 2022. Bored at home?—A systematic review on the effect of environmental enrichment on the welfare of laboratory rats and mice. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 9, 899219.

Music modulates emotional responses in growing pigs

There is a lack of clarity on whether pigs can emotionally respond to musical stimulation and whether that response is related to music structure. Qualitative Behavioral Assessment (QBA) was used to evaluate effects of 16 distinct musical pieces (in terms...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Zapata Cardona, J., Ceballos, M. C., Tarazona Morales, A. M. et al. 2022. Music modulates emotional responses in growing pigs. Scientific Reports 12(1), 3382.

The use of a “go/go” cognitive bias task and response to a novel object to assess the effect of housing enrichment in sheep (Ovis aries)

It is widely acknowledged that environmental enrichment can improve animals' welfare and emotional state. This study used cognitive bias and response to a novel object to assess the effect of enriched housing on emotional state in sheep. Eighteen sheep were...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Sheep

Citation: Stephenson, E., Haskell, M. J. 2022. The use of a “go/go” cognitive bias task and response to a novel object to assess the effect of housing enrichment in sheep (Ovis aries). Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science 25(1), 62-74.

Frog in the well: A review of the scientific literature for evidence of amphibian sentience

Millions of amphibians are traded annually around the world for the exotic pet industry. Their experience during both trade, and in captivity as pets, leads to numerous animal welfare issues. The poor welfare of many pet amphibians is due in...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Amphibian, Frog & Toad, Salamander

Citation: Lambert, H., Elwin, A., D'Cruze, N. 2022. Frog in the well: A review of the scientific literature for evidence of amphibian sentience. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 247, 105559.

Dogs are more pessimistic if their owners use two or more aversive training methods

Domestic dogs are trained using a range of different methods, broadly categorised as reward based (positive reinforcement/negative punishment) and aversive based (positive punishment/negative reinforcement). Previous research has suggested associations between use of positive punishment-based techniques and undesired behaviours, but there...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Animal Training, Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Dog

Citation: Casey, R. A., Naj-Oleari, M., Campbell, S. et al. 2021. Dogs are more pessimistic if their owners use two or more aversive training methods. Scientific Reports 11(1), 19023.

Environmental complexity positively impacts affective states of broiler chickens

Affective state can bias an animal's judgement. Animals in positive affective states can interpret ambiguous cues more positively (“optimistically”) than animals in negative affective states. Thus, judgement bias tests can determine an animal's affective state through their responses to ambiguous...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Crump, A. et al. 2021. Environmental complexity positively impacts affective states of broiler chickens. Scientific Reports 11(1), 16966.

Happy hamsters? Enrichment induces positive judgement bias for mildly (but not truly) ambiguous cues to reward and punishment in Mesocricetus auratus

Recent developments in the study of animal cognition and emotion have resulted in the ‘judgement bias' model of animal welfare. Judgement biases describe the way in which changes in affective state are characterized by changes in information processing. In humans,...

Year Published: 2015Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Hamster, Rodent

Citation: Bethell, E. J., Koyama, N. F. 2015. Happy hamsters? Enrichment induces positive judgement bias for mildly (but not truly) ambiguous cues to reward and punishment in Mesocricetus auratus. Royal Society Open Science 2, 140399.

Can animals develop depression? An overview and assessment of “depression-like” states

Describing certain animal behaviours as 'depression-like' or 'depressive' has become common across several fields of research. These typically involve unusually low activity or unresponsiveness and/or reduced interest in pleasure (anhedonia). While the term 'depression-like' carefully avoids directly claiming that animals...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Bird, Cattle, Chicken, Dog, Equine, Fowl, Macaque, Mouse, Nonhuman Primate, Pig, Rat, Rodent

Citation: MacLellan, A., Fureix, C., Polanco, A. et al. 2021. Can animals develop depression? An overview and assessment of “depression-like” states. Behaviour 158(14/15), 1303–1353.

Collective emotional contagion in zebrafish

Seeking to match our emotional state with one of those around us is known as emotional contagion-a fundamental biological process that underlies social behavior across several species and taxa. While emotional contagion has been traditionally considered to be a prerogative...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Fish, Zebrafish

Citation: Burbano Lombana, D. A., Macrì, S., Porfiri, M. 2021. Collective emotional contagion in zebrafish. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 15, 730372.

A perspective on strategic enrichment for brain development: Is this the key to animal happiness? Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 720422

Livestock animals are sentient beings with cognitive and emotional capacities and their brain development, similar to humans and other animal species, is affected by their surrounding environmental conditions. Current intensive production systems, through the restrictions of safely managing large numbers...

Year Published: 2021Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Bird, Cattle, Chicken, Fowl, Goat, Mink, Pig, Sheep

Citation: Campbell, D. L. M., Lee, C. 2021. A perspective on strategic enrichment for brain development: Is this the key to animal happiness? Frontiers in Veterinary Science 8, 720422.