Emotion, Pain, & Sentience

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.

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.