Emotion, Pain, & Sentience

Social contagion of pain and fear results in opposite social behaviors in rodents: Meta- analysis of experimental studies

The study aimed to explore the key factors influencing emotional valence in rodents, focusing on the critical elements that distinguish the contagion processes of fear and pain.MethodsThrough a systematic review and meta-analysis, we examined behavioral outcomes of rodents exposed to...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Mouse, Rat, Rodent

Citation: Du, R., Yu, Y., Wang, X.-L. et al. 2024. Social contagion of pain and fear results in opposite social behaviors in rodents: Meta- analysis of experimental studies. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 18.

Place conditioning as evaluation of affective valence in piglets

The emotional valence of animals is challenging to assess, despite being a key component of welfare. In this study, we attempted to assess emotional valence through memory in 1- and 3-week-old piglets. It was hypothesized that piglets would spend less...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Ede, T., Ibach, S., Parsons, T. D. 2024. Place conditioning as evaluation of affective valence in piglets. Scientific Reports 14(1), 25216.

A consensus on the definition of positive animal welfare

The concept of animal welfare is evolving due to progress in our scientific understanding of animal biology and changing societal expectations. Animal welfare science has been primarily concerned with minimizing suffering, but there is growing interest in also promoting positive...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Rault, J.-L., Bateson, M., Boissy, A. et al. 2025. A consensus on the definition of positive animal welfare. Biology Letters 21(1), 20240382.

The promotion of play behaviour in grow-finish pigs: The relationship between behaviours indicating positive experience and physiological measures

The provision of opportunities to express rewarding behaviours is a promising concept to support a better quality of life for intensively farmed pigs. Play behaviour has been associated with excitement and fun, suggesting that playing animals experience pleasurable states. Pigs...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Natural BehaviorAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Steinerová, K., Parker, S. E., Brown, J. A. et al. 2024. The promotion of play behaviour in grow-finish pigs: The relationship between behaviours indicating positive experience and physiological measures. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 275, 106263.

An exploration of the postural, location- and social contact- related sub-characteristics of inactive but awake behaviour as a depression-like indicator in mice

Inactive behaviour is essential to life. However, specific forms of inactivity may be indicative of compromised welfare in certain captive conditions. Inactive but awake behaviour (IBA - spontaneous, motionless awake behaviour without interacting with the surroundings) has been documented in...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Trevarthen, A. C., Resasco, A., Finnegan, E. M. et al. 2024. An exploration of the postural, location- and social contact- related sub-characteristics of inactive but awake behaviour as a depression-like indicator in mice. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 281, 106431.

Stress produces negative judgement bias in cuttlefish

Judgement bias tasks (JBTs) are used to assess the emotional state and welfare of animals in zoos, farms and laboratories, based on the interpretation of an ambiguous or intermediate cue. Animals in positive affective states are more likely to interpret...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Cephalopod, Invertebrate

Citation: Giancola-Detmering, S. E., Crook, R. J. 2024. Stress produces negative judgement bias in cuttlefish. Biology Letters 20(10), 20240228.

Feel-good songs: Application of a novel playback paradigm to induce a positive affective state in juvenile male Wistar rats

Across animal welfare science there is a lack of validated models of positive affective states. Previous work has shown that presentation of contrastingly valenced ultrasonic vocalisations (USVs) to rats alters their behaviour. However, the potential of using playback of USVs...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, VocalizationAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Hammond, T. J., Brown, S. M., Meddle, S. L. et al. 2024. Feel-good songs: Application of a novel playback paradigm to induce a positive affective state in juvenile male Wistar rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 275, 106296.

Laughing rats are optimistic

Emotions can bias human decisions- for example depressed or anxious people tend to make pessimistic judgements while those in positive affective states are often more optimistic. Several studies have reported that affect contingent judgement biases can also be produced in...

Year Published: 2012Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Handling, Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Rat, Rodent

Citation: Rygula, R., Pluta, H., Popik, P. 2012. Laughing rats are optimistic. PLOS ONE 7(12), e51959.

Utilizing vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of non-human mammals

This review discusses how welfare scientists can examine vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of individual animals. In recent years, researchers working in professionally managed settings have recognized the value of monitoring the types, rates, and acoustic structures...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, VocalizationAnimal Type: All/General

Citation: Whitham, J. C., Miller, L. J. 2024. Utilizing vocalizations to gain insight into the affective states of non-human mammals. Frontiers in Veterinary Science 11.

An interactive feeder to induce and assess emotions from vocalisations of chickens

Understanding the emotional states of animals is a long-standing research endeavour that has clear applications in animal welfare. Vocalisations are emerging as a promising way to assess both positive and negative emotional states. However, the vocal expression of emotions in...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, VocalizationAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Golfidis, A., Kriengwatana, B. P., Mounir, M. et al. 2024. An interactive feeder to induce and assess emotions from vocalisations of chickens. Animals 14(9), 1386.