Emotion Evaluation and Response Slowing in a Non-Human Primate: New Directions for Cognitive Bias Measures of Animal Emotion?

Behavioral Sciences

Emily J. Bethell²  Amanda Holmes³  Ann MacLarnon¹  Stuart Semple¹ 

[1] Centre for Research in Evolutionary, Social and Interdisciplinary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, UK;;Research Centre in Brain and Behaviour, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, James Parsons Building, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UKCentre for Research in Cognition, Emotion and Interaction, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, UK;

关键词: animal welfare;    appraisal theory;    attention bias;    cognitive bias;    emotion evaluation;    emotional stroop;    freeze;    primate;    response slowing;    rhesus macaque;   

DOI  :  10.3390/bs6010002

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The cognitive bias model of animal welfare assessment is informed by studies with humans demonstrating that the interaction between emotion and cognition can be detected using laboratory tasks. A limitation of cognitive bias tasks is the amount of training required by animals prior to testing. A potential solution is to use biologically relevant stimuli that trigger innate emotional responses. Here; we develop a new method to assess emotion in rhesus macaques; informed by paradigms used with humans: emotional Stroop; visual cueing and; in particular; response slowing. In humans; performance on a simple cognitive task can become impaired when emotional distractor content is displayed. Importantly; responses become slower in anxious individuals in the presence of mild threat; a pattern not seen in non-anxious individuals; who are able to effectively process and disengage from the distractor. Here; we present a proof-of-concept study; demonstrating that rhesus macaques show slowing of responses in a simple touch-screen task when emotional content is introduced; but only when they had recently experienced a presumably stressful veterinary inspection. Our results indicate the presence of a subtle “cognitive freeze” response; the measurement of which may provide a means of identifying negative shifts in emotion in animals.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.