Horses Categorize Human Emotions Cross-Modally Based on Facial Expression and Non-Verbal Vocalizations

Animals

Céline Parias¹  Miléna Trösch¹  Ludovic Calandreau¹  Raymond Nowak¹  Florent Cuzol¹  Léa Lansade¹ 

[1]INRA, PRC, CNRS, IFCE, Université de Tours, 37380 Nouzilly, France

关键词: equus caballus;    social cognition;    human-animal relationship;    emotions;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ani9110862

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Over the last few years, an increasing number of studies have aimed to gain more insight into the field of animal emotions. In particular, it is of interest to determine whether animals can cross-modally categorize the emotions of others. For domestic animals that share a close relationship with humans, we might wonder whether this cross-modal recognition of emotions extends to humans, as well. In this study, we tested whether horses could recognize human emotions and attribute the emotional valence of visual (facial expression) and vocal (non-verbal vocalization) stimuli to the same perceptual category. Two animated pictures of different facial expressions (anger and joy) were simultaneously presented to the horses, while a speaker played an emotional human non-verbal vocalization matching one of the two facial expressions. Horses looked at the picture that was incongruent with the vocalization more, probably because they were intrigued by the paradoxical combination. Moreover, horses reacted in accordance with the valence of the vocalization, both behaviorally and physiologically (heart rate). These results show that horses can cross-modally recognize human emotions and react emotionally to the emotional states of humans, assessed by non-verbal vocalizations.

【 授权许可】

Unknown