Abstract: Video playback has been used to explore many issues in animal communication, but the scope of this work has been constrained by the lack of stimulus-subject interaction. In many natural contexts, each participant's signalling behaviour is dependent from moment-to-moment on that of the other. Analyses of acoustic communication demonstrate the value of reproducing such social contingencies. We assessed the utility of interactive playback for studies of visual signalling by comparing the responses of male Jacky dragons, Amphibolurus muricatus, to interactive and non-interactive digital video playbacks of a life-sized conspecific. Displays produced by lizards in the interactive condition had the effect of suppressing the aggressive display of their simulated opponent. Each stimulus sequence generated during an interactive playback was subsequently played to a size-matched control animal. Males that could interact with the video stimulus responded principally with aggressive displays, while those that could not produced a mixture of aggressive and appeasement signals. Adding a degree of receiver responsiveness is hence sufficient to alter the type of signal evoked, even when video stimuli are physically identical. Interactive playback permits the experimental study of a broader range of theoretical topics and can enhance the realism of video stimuli.

Abstract: There is disagreement in the literature about the exact nature of the phenomenon of empathy. There are emotional, cognitive, and conditioning views, applying in varying degrees across species. An adequate description of the ultimate and proximate mechanism can integrate these views. Proximately, the perception of an object's state activates the subject's corresponding representations, which in turn activate somatic and autonomic responses. This mechanism supports basic behaviors (e.g., alarm, social facilitation, vicariousness of emotions, mother-infant responsiveness, and the modeling of competitors and predators) that are crucial for the reproductive success of animals living in groups. The Perception-Action Model (PAM), together with an understanding of how representations change with experience, can explain the major empirical effects in the literature (similarity, familiarity, past experience, explicit teaching, and salience). It can also predict a variety of empathy disorders. The interaction between the PAM and prefrontal functioning can also explain different levels of empathy across species and age groups. This view can advance our evolutionary understanding of empathy beyond inclusive fitness and reciprocal altruism and can explain different levels of empathy across individuals, species, stages of development, and situations.

Abstract: From the viewpoint of experimental psychology, there are two problems with our current knowledge of equine perception. The first is that the behavioral and neurophysiological research in this area has enormous gaps, reflecting that this animal is not a convenient laboratory subject. The second is that the horse, having been a close companion to humans for many millennia, entrenched anecdotal wisdom is often hard to separate from scientific fact. Therefore, any summary at present of equine perception has to be provisional. The horse appears to have developed a visual system particularly sensitive to dim light and movement, it may or may not have a weak form of color vision in part of the retina, it has little binocular overlap, and its best acuity is limited to a restricted horizontal band which is aimed primarily by head/neck movements. However, the total field of view is very large. Overall, as would be expected for a prey animal, horse vision appears to have evolved more for detection of predator approach from any angle than for accurate visual identification of stationary objects, especially those seen at a distance. It is likely that, as for most mammals except the primates, horses rely more heavily on their other senses for forming a view of their world. Equine high-frequency hearing extends far above that of humans, but horses may be less able to localize the point of origin of brief sounds. The horse's capacity for chemoreception and its reliance on chemical information for identification may more closely resemble that of the dog than of the human. Its tactile sensitivity is high, and the ability of its brain and body to regulate pain perception appears to be similar to that found in other mammals. There is room for a great deal of future research in both the area of equine perception and sensory-based cognition, but for the present time persons interacting with this animal should be made aware of the importance of the sounds they make, the movements of their bodies, the way they touch the animal, and the odors they emit or carry on their clothing.

Abstract: Differences in behavioural characteristics between individuals of the same species are often described as being due to the temperament of the individuals. These differences can have enormous implications for welfare with some individuals apparently being able to adapt to environmental challenge more easily than others. Such differences have resulted in animals often being described as either `active' copers, which try to escape from or remove an aversive stimulus, or `passive' copers, which show no outward signs of a situation being aversive, thus, appearing to be unaffected. Tests previously developed to assess the temperament of animals have been criticised for several reasons. Behaviour is often recorded and categorised using methods that are not objective and tests are generally carried out once with no consideration of whether or not behavioural responses are consistent over time. This study takes these factors into account. The behaviour of 33 horses was recorded in three types of test--an arena test, response to a person and response to an object. In order to test whether or not responses were consistent over time, the tests were repeated three times with an average of 9 days between trials. Test results were validated using responses from questionnaires completed by the farm team leader. The data were analysed using an initial principal component analysis (PCA) and factor analysis. The horses were found to behave consistently over the three trials in their responses in the arena test. The responses to the person test and the object test were similar to each other; however, these responses were not consistent over trials. The behaviour in the arena test was unable to be used to make a prediction of behaviour in the person and object tests and vice versa. The responses shown by the horses did not enable them to be categorised as either active or passive copers. Behavioural responses in the tests were not predictive of the response to a startle test (water spray), nor could they be used to predict status or response to being reintroduced to the group after testing. There was no relationship between the responses in the tests and the ratings given by the farm team leader. It was concluded that horses vary widely in their responses to artificial behavioural tests, with only the responses to an open-field arena test being consistent over time, and therefore, the only type of test which can indicate some core factor of temperament.