Emotion

Includes pain and sentience.

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.

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...

Lima, A. F. de, Lima, S. G. C., Nogueira-Filho, S. L. G. et al. 2024. Object play as a positive emotional state indicator for farmed spotted paca (Cuniculus paca). Animals 14(1), 78.

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...

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.

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...

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

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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,

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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