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Discussion on Research: Horses and recognition of human emotions
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Feb 13, 2016 - 10:34 am:
Don't you love these pieces of research that just confirm what every horse person knows?
DrO
Biol Lett. 2016 Feb;12(2).
Functionally relevant responses to human facial expressions of emotion in the domestic horse (Equus caballus).
Smith AV1, Proops L2, Grounds K2, Wathan J2, McComb K3.
Author information:
1Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK.
2Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK.
3Mammal Vocal Communication and Cognition Research Group, School of Psychology, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9QH, UK.
Abstract
Whether non-human animals can recognize human signals, including emotions, has both scientific and applied importance, and is particularly relevant for domesticated species. This study presents the first evidence of horses' abilities to spontaneously discriminate between positive (happy) and negative (angry) human facial expressions in photographs. Our results showed that the angry faces induced responses indicative of a functional understanding of the stimuli: horses displayed a left-gaze bias (a lateralization generally associated with stimuli perceived as negative) and a quicker increase in heart rate (HR) towards these photographs. Such lateralized responses towards human emotion have previously only been documented in dogs, and effects of facial expressions on HR have not been shown in any heterospecific studies. Alongside the insights that these findings provide into interspecific communication, they raise interesting questions about the generality and adaptiveness of emotional expression and perception across species.
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