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Author Lansade, L.; Bertrand, M.; Boivin, X.; Bouissou, M.-F. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Effects of handling at weaning on manageability and reactivity of foals Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 87 Issue 1-2 Pages (down) 131-149  
  Keywords Horse; Handling; Weaning; Manageability; Emotional reactivity; Fearfulness; Human-animal relationship  
  Abstract The horse's temperament, including its manageability and reactivity and/or fearfulness, is of importance as it can result in problems and can render horses unsuitable for inexperienced riders. Early experience, including handling during infancy, may influence the horse's adult behaviour and reduce its fear of humans and other potentially frigthening situations. In the various species studied, handling has generally been undertaken during the neonatal period. The aim of the present study was to test the effects of handling young horses around the time of weaning, a period which has been demonstrated to be effective in increasing ease of handling in cattle and goats. Sixteen Anglo-Arab foals were handled for 12 days either immediately following weaning (early handled: EH) or 21 days later (late handled: LH); eight additional non-handled foals served as controls (C). Handling consisted of haltering, gently petting all parts of the body, picking up feet and leading the foal over 120 m. During handling sessions, EH were easier to handle than LH: time taken to fit them with a halter, to pick up feet, and “walk-ratio” (time walking under constraint/total time walking) were significantly lower for EH. During subsequent tests conducted over 2 days, 4, and 7 months, as well as 10 months and to some extent 18 months after the end of handling period, EH and LH were easier to handle and less reactive than controls, although differences diminished with time. The period following weaning can therefore be qualified as an “optimal period” for handling. Some of the effects persist for at least 18 months.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 842  
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Author von Borstel, U.U.K.; Duncan, I.J.H.; Lundin, M.C.; Keeling, L.J. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Fear reactions in trained and untrained horses from dressage and show-jumping breeding lines Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 125 Issue 3–4 Pages (down) 124-131  
  Keywords Horse; Fear; Habituation; Riding; Training; Genetic selection  
  Abstract Horses’ fear reactions are hazardous to both horses and human beings, but it is not clear whether fear is influenced more by training or by other factors such as genetics. The following study was designed to detect differences between young, untrained (U) and older, well-trained (T) horses of dressage (D), show-jumping (J), and mixed (M) genetic lines with regard to intensity of reaction and ease of habituation to a frightening stimulus. In five consecutive trials, 90 horses were exposed to a standardized fear-eliciting stimulus where intensity and duration of the reactions were recorded. Repeated measures analysis showed that flight reactions by J were less intense (p < 0.05) than those by D or M regardless of training status or age. Habituation to the stimulus over time was not significantly (p > 0.1) different between the disciplines, as indicated by similar slopes for all measurements, but reaction vigour declined faster for T than for U. These findings indicate that there may be a genetic basis for less strong, though not shorter-lasting, fear reactions in J compared to D or M lines of horses. Research including the estimation of genetic correlations between traits related to fearfulness and to performance would be required to verify this assumption.  
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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5643  
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Author Rørvang, M.V.; Ahrendt, L.P.; Christensen, J.W. url  doi
openurl 
  Title A trained demonstrator has a calming effect on naïve horses when crossing a novel surface Type Journal Article
  Year 2015 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 171 Issue Pages (down) 117-120  
  Keywords Fear; Habituation; Social learning; Social transmission; Heart rate  
  Abstract Abstract Habituated horses have been found to have a calming effect on conspecifics in fear-eliciting situations. In practice, experienced horses are often used as companions when young horses are introduced to potentially frightening situations, like loading onto a trailer. However, studies of social transmission of habituation in horses are scarce. This study investigated if demonstration by a habituated demonstrator horse influenced the willingness of young Icelandic horses (n = 22, 3 years old) to cross a novel surface. Observer horses (n = 11) were allowed to observe the similarly aged demonstrator horse being led five times across a novel surface. Immediately afterwards the observer horses were given the opportunity to cross the novel surface themselves to obtain food on the other side. Controls (n = 11) were allowed to observe the demonstrator eating on the opposite side of the novel surface but not the demonstration of crossing the novel surface. All observers and controls succeeded the task, but observers had significantly lower average and maximum heart rate, compared to controls. This result suggests a calming effect of the demonstration, which could be exploited for habituation training of horses in fear-eliciting situations.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5922  
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Author Leiner, L.; Fendt, M. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Behavioural fear and heart rate responses of horses after exposure to novel objects: Effects of habituation Type Journal Article
  Year 2011 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 131 Issue 3-4 Pages (down) 104-109  
  Keywords Anxiety; Avoidance; Behavioural test; Emotion; Fear; Flight; Habituation; Horse; Vocalization  
  Abstract The emotion fear promotes the fitness of wild animals. In a farm environment, exaggerated fear, e.g., in horses, can cause several problems. Therefore, knowledge about fear in horses helps to prevent or to handle potential fear-inducing situations. The present study investigated which behavioural fear responses can be observed during exposure of horses to a novel stimulus, whether these behavioural responses are correlated with physiological changes, and whether and how specifically these changes are reduced after habituation training to one of the novel objects. Our data shows that behavioural and physiological fear responses in horses are correlated, are reliable to observe and to measure, and appear in a typical chronological order. Furthermore, after habituation-training to an object, the fear response to this object is specifically attenuated whereas the fear response to another object remains.  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5332  
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Author Shrader, A.M.; Kerley, G.I.H.; Kotler, B.P.; Brown, J.S. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Social information, social feding, and competition in group-living goats (Capra hircus) Type Journal Article
  Year 2007 Publication Behavioral Ecology Abbreviated Journal Behav. Ecol.  
  Volume 18 Issue 1 Pages (down) 103-107  
  Keywords fear, group foraging, harvest rates, intraspecific competition, social information.  
  Abstract There are both benefits (e.g., social information) and costs (e.g., intraspecific competition) for individuals foraging in groups. To ascertain how group-foraging goats (Capra hircus) deal with these trade-offs, we asked 1) do goats use social information to make foraging decisions and 2) how do they adjust their intake rate in light of having attracted by other group members? To establish whether goats use social information, we recorded their initial choice of different quality food patches when they were ignorant of patch quality and when they could observe others foraging. After determining that goats use social information, we recorded intake rates while they fed alone and in the presence of potential competitors. Intake rate increased as the number of competitors increased. Interestingly, lone goats achieved an intake rate that was higher than when one competitor was present but similar to when two or more competitors were present. Faster intake rates may allow herbivores to ingest a larger portion of the available food before competing group members arrive at the patch. This however, does not explain the high intake rates achieved when the goats were alone. We provide 2 potential explanations: 1) faster intake rates are a response to greater risk incurred by lone individuals, the loss of social information, and the fear of being left behind by the group and 2) when foraging alone, intake rate is no longer a trade-off between reducing competition and acquiring social information. Thus, individuals are able to feed close to their maximum rate.  
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  Notes 10.1093/beheco/arl057 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 814  
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Author Beckers, T.; Miller, R.R.; De Houwer, J.; Urushihara, K. doi  openurl
  Title Reasoning rats: forward blocking in Pavlovian animal conditioning is sensitive to constraints of causal inference Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Journal of experimental psychology. General Abbreviated Journal J Exp Psychol Gen  
  Volume 135 Issue 1 Pages (down) 92-102  
  Keywords Animals; *Association Learning; *Cognition; *Conditioning, Classical; Cues; Fear; Female; Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Motivation; *Problem Solving; Rats; Rats, Sprague-Dawley  
  Abstract Forward blocking is one of the best-documented phenomena in Pavlovian animal conditioning. According to contemporary associative learning theories, forward blocking arises directly from the hardwired basic learning rules that govern the acquisition or expression of associations. Contrary to this view, here the authors demonstrate that blocking in rats is flexible and sensitive to constraints of causal inference, such as violation of additivity and ceiling considerations. This suggests that complex cognitive processes akin to causal inferential reasoning are involved in a well-established Pavlovian animal conditioning phenomenon commonly attributed to the operation of basic associative processes.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, NY, USA. tom.beckers@psy.kuleuven.be  
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  ISSN 0096-3445 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:16478318 Approved no  
  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 155  
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Author Christensen, J.W.; Keeling, L.J.; Nielsen, B.L. doi  openurl
  Title Responses of horses to novel visual, olfactory and auditory stimuli Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 93 Issue 1-2 Pages (down) 53-65  
  Keywords Horses; Novelty responses; Fear; Behaviour; Heart rate  
  Abstract Responses of horses towards fear-eliciting stimuli can have important consequences for both human and horse safety. This experiment was designed to investigate behavioural and heart rate (HR) responses of horses to novel visual, auditory and olfactory stimuli. Twenty-four 2-year-old, previously unhandled, stallions were habituated to receive a food reward from a container in a test arena. Each horse was exposed to three 2 min tests in a balanced design where in addition to the feed container, either a traffic cone (visual test), white noise (auditory test) or eucalyptus oil applied to the inside of the container (olfactory test) were used as the novel stimuli. Compared to the control, less time was spent eating during all tests. There was no difference in locomotion activity in the different test situations, but presentation of the novel visual and auditory stimuli elicited significantly increased HR responses in the horses, compared to their response to the arena without novel stimuli (control), whereas there was no increase in HR response to the olfactory stimulus. However, during the olfactory test, the horses had an increased number of eating bouts and became more vigilant towards their surroundings, whereas during the visual and auditory tests, more time was spent alert towards the stimulus. The horses also took significantly more steps backwards in response to the auditory test. The heart rate responses correlated between tests and reflect a non-differentiated activation of the sympathetic nervous system, while the behavioural responses were linked to the type of stimulus.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2256  
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Author Christensen, J.W.; Ahrendt, L.P.; Lintrup, R.; Gaillard, C.; Palme, R.; Malmkvist, J. doi  openurl
  Title Does learning performance in horses relate to fearfulness, baseline stress hormone, and social rank? Type Abstract
  Year 2012 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal App Anim Behav Sci  
  Volume 140 Issue 1 Pages (down) 44-52  
  Keywords Horse; Learning; Fearfulness; Stress; Reinforcement; Social rank  
  Abstract The ability of horses to learn and remember new tasks is fundamentally important for their use by humans. Fearfulness may, however, interfere with learning, because stimuli in the environment can overshadow signals from the rider or handler. In addition, prolonged high levels of stress hormones can affect neurons within the hippocampus; a brain region central to learning and memory. In a series of experiments, we aimed to investigate the link between performance in two learning tests, the baseline level of stress hormones, measured as faecal cortisol metabolites (FCM), fearfulness, and social rank. Twenty-five geldings (2 or 3 years old) pastured in one group were included in the study. The learning tests were performed by professional trainers and included a number of predefined stages during which the horses were gradually trained to perform exercises, using either negative (NR) or positive reinforcement (PR). Each of the learning tests lasted 3 days; 7min/horse/day. The NR test was repeated in a novel environment. Performance, measured as final stage in the training programme, and heart rate (HR) were recorded. Faeces were collected on four separate days where the horses had been undisturbed at pasture for 48h. Social rank was determined through observations of social interactions during feeding. The fear test was a novel object test during which behaviour and HR were recorded. Performance in the NR and PR learning tests did not correlate. In the NR test, there was a significant, negative correlation between performance and HR in the novel environment (rS=-0.66, P<0.001, i.e. nervous horses had reduced performance), whereas there was no such correlation in the home environment (both NR and PR). Behavioural reactions in the fear test correlated significantly with performance in the NR test in the novel environment (e.g. object alertness and final stage: rS=-0.43, P=0.04), suggesting that performance under unfamiliar, stressful conditions may be predicted by behavioural responses in a fear test. There was a negative correlation between social rank and baseline stress hormones (rS=-0.43, P=0.04), i.e. high rank corresponded to low FCM concentrations, whereas neither rank nor FCM correlated with fearfulness or learning performance. We conclude that performance under stressful conditions is affected by activation of the sympathetic nervous system during training and related to behavioural responses in a standardised fear test. Learning performance in the home environment, however, appears unrelated to fearfulness, social rank and baseline FCM levels.  
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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ S0168-1591(12)00168-2 Serial 5769  
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Author Panksepp, J. doi  openurl
  Title Affective consciousness: Core emotional feelings in animals and humans Type Journal Article
  Year 2005 Publication Consciousness and Cognition Abbreviated Journal Conscious Cogn  
  Volume 14 Issue 1 Pages (down) 30-80  
  Keywords Affect/*physiology; Animals; Bonding, Human-Pet; Brain/*physiology; Consciousness/*physiology; Fear; Humans; Limbic System/physiology; Social Behavior; Species Specificity; Unconscious (Psychology)  
  Abstract The position advanced in this paper is that the bedrock of emotional feelings is contained within the evolved emotional action apparatus of mammalian brains. This dual-aspect monism approach to brain-mind functions, which asserts that emotional feelings may reflect the neurodynamics of brain systems that generate instinctual emotional behaviors, saves us from various conceptual conundrums. In coarse form, primary process affective consciousness seems to be fundamentally an unconditional “gift of nature” rather than an acquired skill, even though those systems facilitate skill acquisition via various felt reinforcements. Affective consciousness, being a comparatively intrinsic function of the brain, shared homologously by all mammalian species, should be the easiest variant of consciousness to study in animals. This is not to deny that some secondary processes (e.g., awareness of feelings in the generation of behavioral choices) cannot be evaluated in animals with sufficiently clever behavioral learning procedures, as with place-preference procedures and the analysis of changes in learned behaviors after one has induced re-valuation of incentives. Rather, the claim is that a direct neuroscientific study of primary process emotional/affective states is best achieved through the study of the intrinsic (“instinctual”), albeit experientially refined, emotional action tendencies of other animals. In this view, core emotional feelings may reflect the neurodynamic attractor landscapes of a variety of extended trans-diencephalic, limbic emotional action systems-including SEEKING, FEAR, RAGE, LUST, CARE, PANIC, and PLAY. Through a study of these brain systems, the neural infrastructure of human and animal affective consciousness may be revealed. Emotional feelings are instantiated in large-scale neurodynamics that can be most effectively monitored via the ethological analysis of emotional action tendencies and the accompanying brain neurochemical/electrical changes. The intrinsic coherence of such emotional responses is demonstrated by the fact that they can be provoked by electrical and chemical stimulation of specific brain zones-effects that are affectively laden. For substantive progress in this emerging research arena, animal brain researchers need to discuss affective brain functions more openly. Secondary awareness processes, because of their more conditional, contextually situated nature, are more difficult to understand in any neuroscientific detail. In other words, the information-processing brain functions, critical for cognitive consciousness, are harder to study in other animals than the more homologous emotional/motivational affective state functions of the brain.  
  Address Department of Psychology, Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH 43403, USA. jpankse@bgnet.bgsu.ed  
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  ISSN 1053-8100 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:15766890 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4159  
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Author Lansade, L.; Simon, F. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Horses' learning performances are under the influence of several temperamental dimensions Type Journal Article
  Year 2010 Publication Applied Animal Behaviour Science Abbreviated Journal Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.  
  Volume 125 Issue 1-2 Pages (down) 30-37  
  Keywords Avoidance task; Equus caballus; Fearfulness; Learning; Personality; Temperament  
  Abstract Learning performances are influenced by many factors, not only breed, age and sex, but also temperament. The purpose of this study was to understand how different temperamental dimensions affect the learning performance of horses, Equus caballus. First, we carried out a series of behavioural tests on 36 Welsh ponies aged 5-7 years to measure five temperamental dimensions: fearfulness (novel area test and surprise test), gregariousness (social isolation test), reactivity to humans (passive human test), tactile sensitivity (von Frey filament test) and activity level (evaluation of locomotor activity during all the tests). We then presented them with two learning tasks (avoidance and backwards-forwards tasks). In the avoidance task they had to learn to jump over a fence when they heard a sound associated with an aversive stimulus (puff of air). In the backwards-forwards task they had to walk forwards or move backwards in response to a tactile or vocal command to obtain a food reward. There was no correlation between performances on the two learning tasks, indicating that learning ability is task-dependent. However, correlations were found between temperamental data and learning performance (Spearman correlations). The ponies that performed the avoidance task best were the most fearful and the most active ones. For instance, the number of trials required to perform 5 consecutive correct responses (learning criterion) was correlated with the variables aimed at measuring fearfulness (way of crossing a novel area: rs = -0.41, P = 0.01 and time to start eating again after a surprise effect: rs = -0.33, P = 0.05) and activity level (frequency of trotting during all the tests: rs = -0.40, P = 0.02). The animals that performed the backwards-forwards task best were the ones that were the least fearful and the most sensitive. For instance, the learning criterion (corresponding to the number of trials taken to achieve five consecutive correct responses) was correlated with the variables aimed at measuring fearfulness (latency to put one foot on the area: rs = 0.43, P = 0.01; way of crossing a novel area: rs = 0.31, P = 0.06; and time to start eating again after a surprise effect: rs = 0.43, P = 0.009) and tactile sensitivity (response to von Frey filaments: rs = -0.44, P = 0.008). This study revealed significant links between temperament and learning abilities that are highly task-dependent.  
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  ISSN 0168-1591 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5077  
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