Emotion, Pain, & Sentience

The effects of caustic soda and benzocaine on directed grooming to the eyestalk in the glass prawn, Palaemon elegans, are consistent with the idea of pain in decapods

Acceptance of the possibility of pain in animals usually requires that various criteria are fulfilled. One such criterion is that a noxious stimulus or wound would elicit directed rubbing or grooming at the site of the stimulus. There is also...

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

Citation: Barr, S., Elwood, R. W. 2024. The effects of caustic soda and benzocaine on directed grooming to the eyestalk in the glass prawn, Palaemon elegans, are consistent with the idea of pain in decapods. Animals 14(3), 364.

Trade-offs between avoidance of noxious electric shock and avoidance of bright light in shore crabs are consistent with predictions of pain

The suggestion that decapod crustaceans might experience pain has been dismissed by some authors who claim decapods only respond to noxious stimuli by nociceptive reflexes. Because reflexes do not require complex neuronal processing, but pain does, demonstrating reflex responses to...

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

Citation: Barr, S., Elwood, R. W. 2024. Trade-offs between avoidance of noxious electric shock and avoidance of bright light in shore crabs are consistent with predictions of pain. Animals 14(5), 770.

Are lateralized and bold fish optimistic or pessimistic?

Cognitive bias is defined as the influence of emotions on cognitive processes. The concept of the cognitive judgement bias has its origins in human psychology but has been applied to animals over the past 2 decades. In this study we...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, PersonalityAnimal Type: Fish, Other Fish

Citation: Berlinghieri, F., Rizzuto, G., Kruizinga, L. et al. 2024. Are lateralized and bold fish optimistic or pessimistic? Animal Cognition 27(1), 42.

Opportunistically using a Chronic Unpredictable Stress study to investigate ‘inactive-but-awake’ behaviour as a potential welfare indicator in laboratory rats

Being awake but motionless, inactive-but-awake (IBA), has been suggested to reflect low arousal negative affect in several species. This preliminary study investigated IBA in rats exposed to Chronic Unpredictable Stress (CUS), opportunistically (to comply with the 3Rs) during biomedical research...

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

Citation: Young, L., McCallum, R., Perreault, M. et al. 2024. Opportunistically using a Chronic Unpredictable Stress study to investigate ‘inactive-but-awake' behaviour as a potential welfare indicator in laboratory rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 274, 106249.

Pain management in zebrafish: Report from a FELASA Working Group

Empirical evidence suggests fishes meet the criteria for experiencing pain beyond a reasonable doubt and zebrafish are being increasingly used in studies of pain and nociception. Zebrafish are adopted across a wide range of experimental fields and their use is...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Analgesia, Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Fish, Zebrafish

Citation: Sneddon, L. U., Schroeder, P., Roque, A. et al. 2024. Pain management in zebrafish: Report from a FELASA Working Group. Laboratory Animals 58(3), 261–276.

Exploration of skin redness and immunoglobulin A as markers of the affective states of hens

Non-invasive markers of affective states can help understanding animals' perception of situations and improving their welfare. These markers are scarce in avian species. In this study, we investigate the potential relation between alterations in facial skin redness in hens and...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Bird, Chicken

Citation: Soulet, D., Jahoui, A., Guabiraba, R. et al. 2024. Exploration of skin redness and immunoglobulin A as markers of the affective states of hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 274, 106268.

Differences in behaviour, facial expressions and locomotion between positive anticipation and frustration in horses

Animal welfare is a result of accumulated negative and positive emotions. Therefore, it is important to limit the former and promote the latter. Doing so requires a precise identification of these emotions. The aim of this study was to characterize...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Phelipon, R., Ascione, A., Ruet, A. et al. 2024. Differences in behaviour, facial expressions and locomotion between positive anticipation and frustration in horses. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 274, 106262.

The effect of noise, vibration, and light disturbances from daily health checks on breeding performance, nest building, and corticosterone in mice

At our institution, the techniques that technicians use for health checks vary for mice housed in cages on individually ventilated caging (IVC) racks. If the mice cannot be adequately visualized, some technicians partially undock the cage whereas others use an...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Husbandry & Management, ReproductionAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Clancy, B. M., Theriault, B. R., Turcios, R. et al. 2023. The effect of noise, vibration, and light disturbances from daily health checks on breeding performance, nest building, and corticosterone in mice. JAALAS 62(4), 291–302.

Perinatal environmental enrichment changes anxiety-like behaviours in mice and produces similar intergenerational benefits in offspring

Environmental enrichment implemented in early life is able to induce long-term changes in gene expression, synaptic function and behavioural responses. In this study, we evaluated the adult behavioural effects of perinatal environment enrichment in male and female mice (PEE), as...

Year Published: 2024Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, Rearing & Weaning, ReproductionAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Silva-Almeida, C., Muniz, S. C. A., Jobim, C. M. N. et al. 2024. Perinatal environmental enrichment changes anxiety-like behaviours in mice and produces similar intergenerational benefits in offspring. Behavioural Brain Research 456, 114700.

Measuring emotions in dairy cows: Relationships between infrared temperature of key body parts, lateralised behaviour and milk production

The emotions of cows could be reflected in their body temperature, productivity and behaviours. We tested whether there is a positive correlation between non-invasive infrared temperature (IRT) and right-side laterality (presumed to indicate anxiety), and negative correlation with milk production...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Uddin, J., McNeill, D. M., Phillips, C. J. C. 2023. Measuring emotions in dairy cows: Relationships between infrared temperature of key body parts, lateralised behaviour and milk production. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 269, 106115.