Includes pain and sentience.
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...
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...
We aimed to assess whether object play can be used as a positive emotional state indicator for farmed spotted pacas (Cuniculus paca) by examining its association with other positive welfare markers including affiliative behavior and...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...