Emotion, Pain, & Sentience

When should we ascribe sentience to animals? A commentary on “Hermit crabs, shells and sentience” (Elwood 2022)

In a new review article, experiments on hermit crab behaviour are discussed in the context of possible animal sentience. Sentience can be defined as the ability to experience feelings such as pleasure or pain but there are also broader definitions...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Crustacean, Invertebrate

Citation: Briffa, M. 2022. When should we ascribe sentience to animals? A commentary on “Hermit crabs, shells and sentience” (Elwood 2022). Animal Cognition 25(6), 1375–1380.

Fish intelligence, sentience and ethics

Fish are one of the most highly utilised vertebrate taxa by humans; they are harvested from wild stocks as part of global fishing industries, grown under intensive aquaculture conditions, are the most common pet and are widely used for scientific...

Year Published: 2015Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Regulations & Ethical ReviewAnimal Type: Fish, Other Fish, Salmon, Shark & Ray, Tilapia, Trout, Zebrafish

Citation: Brown, C. 2015. Fish intelligence, sentience and ethics. Animal Cognition 18(1), 1–17.

Smart sharks: A review of chondrichthyan cognition

450 million years of evolution have given chondrichthyans (sharks, rays and allies) ample time to adapt perfectly to their respective everyday life challenges and cognitive abilities have played an important part in that process. The diversity of niches that sharks...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Emotion, Pain, & SentienceAnimal Type: Fish, Shark & Ray

Citation: Brown, C., Schluessel, V. 2023. Smart sharks: A review of chondrichthyan cognition. Animal Cognition 26(1), 175–188.

Early-life object exposure with a habituated mother reduces fear reactions in foals

Fear reactions in horses are a major cause of horse–human accidents, and identification of effective pathways for reduction in fearfulness can help decreasing the frequency of accidents. For a young mammal, the mother is one of the most salient aspects...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Equine

Citation: Christensen, J. W. 2016. Early-life object exposure with a habituated mother reduces fear reactions in foals. Animal Cognition 19(1), 171–179.

Impact of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Environmental condition, such as environmental complexity or stocking density, can directly or indirectly influence animal emotion and ultimately, affective state. Affective states of animals can be assessed through judgement bias tests, evaluating responses to ambiguous situations. In this study, we...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Environmental Enrichment, Housing, Stocking DensityAnimal Type: Fish, Trout

Citation: Anderson, M. G., Campbell, A. M., Kuhn, D. D. et al. 2022. Impact of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Animal Cognition 25(5), 1331–1343.

Transgenerational effects of early-life stress on anxiety behavior in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Early-life adversity impacts on anxiety-related behaviors in adulthood. The effects of such adversity not only affect the animal itself, but can be passed on transgenerationally. Pervasive effects of experimentally-induced early-life stress (ELS) have been documented in adult zebrafish but it...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Rearing & WeaningAnimal Type: Fish, Zebrafish

Citation: Fontana, B. D., Alnassar, N., Parker, M. O. 2023. Transgenerational effects of early-life stress on anxiety behavior in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Behavioural Processes 208, 104874.

Social buffering of the stress response: Insights from fishes

Social buffering of stress refers to the effect of a social partner in reducing the cortisol or corticosterone response to a stressor. It has been well studied in mammals, particularly those that form pair bonds. Recent studies on fishes suggest...

Year Published: 2022Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Social Housing & CompanionshipAnimal Type: Fish, Other Fish, Salmon, Shark & Ray, Tilapia, Trout, Zebrafish

Citation: Gilmour, K. M., Bard, B. 2022. Social buffering of the stress response: Insights from fishes. Biology Letters 18(10), 20220332.

Hunger affects cognitive performance of dairy calves

Hunger remains a significant animal welfare concern as restricted feeding practices are common on farms. Studies to date have focused on negative effects on health and productivity but little research has addressed the feeling of hunger, mostly due to methodological...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Lecorps, B., Woodroffe, R. E., von Keyserlingk, M. A. G. et al. 2023. Hunger affects cognitive performance of dairy calves. Biology Letters 19(1), 20220475.

A new tool for quantifying mouse facial expressions

Facial expressions are an increasingly used tool to assess emotional experience and affective state during experimental procedures in animal models. Previous studies have successfully related specific facial features with different positive and negative valence situations, most notably in relation to...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Mouse, Rodent

Citation: Moëne, O. L., Larsson, M. 2023. A new tool for quantifying mouse facial expressions. ENeuro 10(2) ENEURO.0349-22.2022.

Can the emotional state of calves be noticed by their facial expression and heart rate?

The aim of this study was to identify whether or not dairy calves change their facial expression and heart rate according to their emotional state when subjected to a stroking or umbrella stimulus. Thirty-two mixed-breed Holstein calves of different ages...

Year Published: 2023Topics: Biological Sampling & Physiological Measurement, Emotion, Pain, & Sentience, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cattle

Citation: Machado, M., Freitas Silveira, R. M., Machado Bittar, C. M. et al. 2023. Can the emotional state of calves be noticed by their facial expression and heart rate? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 260, 105874.