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| Author | Lovrovich, P.; Sighieri, C.; Baragli, P. | ||||
| Title | The human-given cues and behavioural plasticity of horses during a delayed three choice task | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2012 | Publication | Proceedings of the 2. International Equine Science Meeting | Abbreviated Journal | Proc. 2. Int. Equine. Sci. Mtg |
| Volume | in press | Issue | Pages | ||
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| Abstract | Recent studies have tested the ability of horses to understand human gestures. But even at the moment results are rather contradictory. This study was aimed at analyzing ability of horses to understand, remember and use human-given cues in a delayed three choice task. After the training period, sixteen horses had to choose between three blue buckets. One of them hid a carrot. Eight horses (A-group) saw the person hiding the carrot and they had to choose the correct bucket only after the person had hidden carrot and gone away. Control group, eight horses (B-group) did not know where the carrot was, and could only choose the bucket through the use of smell or by random choice. Each horse carried out 10 trials in the same test session. A-group chose the correct bucket to a greater extent on the first try (4.37±1.42), compared to the second (3.00±0.53) and the third try (0.75±0.71). With significant differences between the first and the second try (t14=2.582, p=0.022), the first and the third try (t14=6.508, p=0.000), and between the second and the third try (t14=7.180, p=0.000). Also the B-group chose the correct bucket to a greater extent on the first try (3.87±0.83) compared to the second (3.37±1.51) and the third (1.75±1.49). Anyway, there was no differences between the first and the second try (t14=0.821, p=0.425). As regards the B-group, statistical differences were found between the first and the third try (t14=3.523, p=0.003) and between the second and the third try (t14=2.171, p=0.048). Moreover, A-group showed a negative correlation (r=-0.652, p=0.0409) between the number of correct answers at first trial, and seemed that they used human information during the first half of the trials. As the trials proceeded, the average time required to find carrot decreased, with a negative correlation (r=-0.779, p=0.0079) over trials while, the number of overturned bucket to find carrot increased over trials (r=0.770, p=0.0091). As the trials proceeded, the horses tended to choose at first the bucket where the carrot had been found in the previous trial (r=0.450, p=0.013). Any kind of correlation over trials was found in B-group. In the first trials, the horses we studied seemed to understand human given-cues information, store it and use it appropriately even in absence of a person. As trials proceeded they seemed to change strategy, searching carrots where it had been found in the previous trial. Therefore, horses could use human given-cues or other cognitive strategy depending on the time, energy cost and mental effort required to solve the task. KW - | ||||
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| Corporate Author | Lovrovich, P. | Thesis | |||
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Xenophon Publishing | Place of Publication | Wald | Editor | Krueger, K. |
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| ISSN | 978-3-9808134-26 | ISBN | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5547 | ||
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| Author | Baragli, P.; Paoletti, E.; Vitale, V.; Sighieri, C. | ||||
| Title | Looking in the correct location for a hidden object: brief note about the memory of donkeys (Equus asinus) | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2011 | Publication | Ethology Ecology & Evolution | Abbreviated Journal | Ethology Ecology & Evolution |
| Volume | 23 | Issue | 2 | Pages | 187-192 |
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| Abstract | In recent years, considerable literature has been published on cognition in horses; however, much less is known about the cognitive abilities of domestic donkey (Equus asinus). This study aimed to expand our knowledge of donkey cognition by assessing their short-term memory capacity. We employed a detour problem combined with the classic delayed-response task, which has been extensively used to compare working memory duration in a variety of different species. A two-point choice apparatus was used to investigate location recall and search behaviour for a food target, after a short delay following its disappearance. Four donkeys completed the task with a 10 sec delay, while four others were tested with a 30 sec delay. Overall, each group performed above chance level on the test, showing that subjects had successfully encoded, maintained, and retrieved the existence and location of the target despite the loss of visual contact. | ||||
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Taylor & Francis | Place of Publication | Editor | ||
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| ISSN | 0394-9370 | ISBN | Medium | ||
| Area | Expedition | Conference | |||
| Notes | doi: 10.1080/03949370.2011.554885 | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6177 | ||
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| Author | Baragli, P.; Vitale, V.; Paoletti, E.; Sighieri, C.; Reddon, A.R. | ||||
| Title | Detour behaviour in horses (Equus caballus) | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2011 | Publication | Journal of Ethology | Abbreviated Journal | J. Ethol. |
| Volume | 29 | Issue | 2 | Pages | 227-234 |
| Keywords | Detour behaviour; Equus caballus; Horses; Lateralization; Spatial reasoning | ||||
| Abstract | The objective of this study was to investigate the ability of horses (Equus caballus) to detour around symmetric and asymmetric obstacles. Ten female Italian saddle horses were each used in three detour tasks. In the first task, the ability to detour around a symmetrical obstacle was evaluated; in the second and third tasks subjects were required to perform a detour around an asymmetrical obstacle with two different degrees of asymmetry. The direction chosen to move around the obstacle and time required to make the detour were recorded. The results suggest that horses have the spatial abilities required to perform detour tasks with both symmetric and asymmetric obstacles. The strategy used to perform the task varied between subjects. For five horses, lateralized behaviour was observed when detouring the obstacle; this was consistently in one direction (three on the left and two on the right). For these horses, no evidence of spatial learning or reasoning was found. The other five horses did not solve this task in a lateralized manner, and a trend towards decreasing lateralization was observed as asymmetry, and hence task difficulty, increased. These non-lateralized horses may have higher spatial reasoning abilities. | ||||
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Springer Japan | Place of Publication | Editor | ||
| Language | English | Summary Language | Original Title | ||
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| ISSN | 0289-0771 | ISBN | Medium | ||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5686 | ||
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| Author | Baragli, P.; Demuru, E.; Scopa, C.; Palagi, E. | ||||
| Title | Are horses capable of mirror self-recognition? A pilot study | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2017 | Publication | Plos One | Abbreviated Journal | Plos One |
| Volume | 12 | Issue | 5 | Pages | e0176717 |
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| Abstract | Mirror Self-Recognition (MSR) unveils complex cognitive, social and emotional skills and it has been found only in humans and few other species, such as great apes, dolphins, elephants and magpies. In this pilot study, we tested if horses show the capacity of MSR. Four subjects living socially under naturalistic conditions were selected for the experiment. We adopted the classical mark test, which consists in placing a coloured mark on an out-of-view body part, visible only through mirror inspection. If the animal considers the image as its own, it will use its reflection to detect the mark and will try to explore it. We enhanced the classical paradigm by introducing a double-check control. Only in the presence of the reflecting surface, animals performed tactile and olfactory exploration of the mirror and looked behind it. These behaviors suggest that subjects were trying to associate multiple sensory cues (visual, tactile and olfactory) to the image in the mirror. The lack of correspondence between the collected stimuli in front of the mirror and the response to the colored mark lead us to affirm that horses are able to perceive that the reflected image is incongruent when compared with the memorized information of a real horse. However, without replication of data, the self-directed behavior towards the colored marks showed by our horses cannot be sufficient per se to affirm that horses are capable of self-recognition. | ||||
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Public Library of Science | Place of Publication | Editor | ||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6158 | ||
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| Author | Lovrovich, P.; Sighieri, C.; Baragli, P. | ||||
| Title | Following human-given cues or not? Horses (Equus caballus) get smarter and change strategy in a delayed three choice task | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2015 | Publication | Applied Animal Behaviour Science | Abbreviated Journal | Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
| Volume | 166 | Issue | Pages | 80-88 | |
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| Abstract | Highlights �Horses remember the location of food hidden by the experimenter after a delay. �They understand the communicative meaning of a human positioned close to the target. �The same horses are capable of changing their decision-making strategy. �They are able to shift from accuracy inferred from human given cues to speed. �Horses can use human cues or not depending on time, cost, experience and reward. Abstract To date, horses have seemed capable of using human local enhancement cues only when the experimenter remains close to the reward, since they fail to understand the communicative meaning of the human as momentary local enhancement cue (when the human is not present at the moment of the animal's choice). This study was designed to analyse the ability of horses to understand, remember and use human-given cues in a delayed (10 s) three-choice task. Twelve horses (experimental group) had to find a piece of carrot hidden under one of three overturned buckets after seeing the experimenter hide it. The results were then compared with those of a control group (twelve horses) that had to find the carrot using only the sense of smell or random attempts. At the beginning, the experimental horses made more correct choices at the first attempt, although they took more time to find the carrot. Later the same horses were less accurate but found the carrot in less time. This suggests that the value of the proximal momentary local enhancement cues became less critical. It seemed, in fact, that the experimental and control group had aligned their behaviour as the trials proceeded. Despite this similarity, in the second half of the trials, the experimental group tended to first approach the bucket where they had found the carrot in the immediately preceding trial. Our findings indicate that horses are capable of remembering the location of food hidden by the experimenter after a delay, by using the human positioned close to the target as valuable information. The same horses are also capable of changing their decision-making strategy by shifting from the accuracy inferred from human given cues to speed. Therefore, horses are able to decide whether or not to use human given-cues, depending on a speed-accuracy trade-off. |
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Elsevier | Place of Publication | Editor | ||
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| Notes | doi: 10.1016/j.applanim.2015.02.017 | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 5849 | ||
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| Author | Guidi, A.; Lanata, A.; Valenza, G.; Scilingo, E.P.; Baragli, P. | ||||
| Title | Validation of smart textile electrodes for electrocardiogram monitoring in free-moving horses | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2017 | Publication | Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research | Abbreviated Journal | J. Vet. Behav. |
| Volume | 17 | Issue | Pages | 19-23 | |
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| Abstract | This article focuses on the validation of smart textile electrodes used to acquire electrocardiogram (ECG) signals in horses in a comfortable and robust manner. The performance of smart textile electrodes is compared with standard Ag/AgCl electrodes in terms of the percentage of motion artifacts (MAs, the noise that results from the movement of electrodes against the skin) and signal quality. Seven healthy Standardbred mares were equipped with 2 identical electronic systems for the simultaneous collection of ECGs. One system was equipped with smart textile electrodes, whereas the second was equipped with standard Ag/AgCl electrodes. Each horse was then monitored individually in a stall for 1 hour, without any movement constraints. The ECGs were visually examined by an expert who blindly labeled the ECG segments that had been corrupted by MAs. Finally, the percentage of MAs (MA%) was computed as the number of samples of the corrupted segments over the whole length of the signal. The total MA% was found to be lower for the smart textiles than for the Ag/AgCl electrodes. Consistent results were also obtained by investigating MAs over time. These results suggest that smart textile electrodes are more reliable when recording artifact-free ECGs in horses at rest. Thus, improving the acquisition of important physiological information related to the activity of the autonomic nervous system, such as heart rate variability, could help to provide reliable information on the mood and state of arousal of horses. | ||||
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Elsevier | Place of Publication | Editor | ||
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| ISSN | 1558-7878 | ISBN | Medium | ||
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| Notes | doi: 10.1016/j.jveb.2016.10.001 | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6213 | ||
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| Author | Sighieri, C.; Tedeschi, D.; De Andreis, C.; Petri, L.; Baragli, P. | ||||
| Title | Behaviour Patterns of Horses Can be Used to Establish a Dominant-Subordinate Relationship Between Man and Horse | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2003 | Publication | Abbreviated Journal | Animal Welfare | |
| Volume | 12 | Issue | 4 | Pages | 705-708 |
| Keywords | animal welfare; behaviour patterns; dominance; unhandled horse | ||||
| Abstract | This paper describes how man can enter the social hierarchy of the horse by mimicking the behaviour and stance it uses to establish dominance. A herd is organised according to a dominance hierarchy established by means of ritualised conflict. Dominance relationships are formed through these confrontations: one horse gains the dominant role and others identify themselves as subordinates. This study was conducted using five females of the Haflinger breed, totally unaccustomed to human contact, from a free-range breeding farm. The study methods were based on the three elements fundamental to the equilibrium of the herd: flight, herd instinct and hierarchy. The trainer-horse relationship was established in three phases: retreat, approach and association. At the end of the training sessions, all of the horses were able to respond correctly to the trainer. These observations suggest that it is possible to manage unhandled horses without coercion by mimicking their behaviour patterns. | ||||
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Cambridge University Press | Place of Publication | Editor | ||
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| Series Volume | Series Issue | Edition | 2023/01/11 | ||
| ISSN | 0962-7286 | ISBN | Medium | ||
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| Notes | Approved | no | |||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 6713 | ||
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| Author | Sighieri, C.; Tedeschi, D.; De Andreis, C.; Petri, L.; Baragli, P. | ||||
| Title | Behaviour patterns of horses can be used to establish a dominantsubordinate relationship between man and horse | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2003 | Publication | Animal Welfare | Abbreviated Journal | |
| Volume | 12 | Issue | Pages | 705-708 | |
| Keywords | ANIMAL WELFARE; BEHAVIOUR PATTERNS; DOMINANCE; UNHANDLED HORSE | ||||
| Abstract | This paper describes how man can enter the social hierarchy of the horse by mimicking the behaviour and stance it uses to establish dominance. A herd is organised according to a dominance hierarchy established by means of ritualised conflict. Dominance relationships are formed through these confrontations: one horse gains the dominant role and others identify themselves as subordinates. This study was conducted using five females of the Haflinger breed, totally unaccustomed to human contact, from a free-range breeding farm. The study methods were based on the three elements fundamental to the equilibrium of the herd: flight, herd instinct and hierarchy. The trainer-horse relationship was established in three phases: retreat, approach and association. At the end of the training sessions, all of the horses were able to respond correctly to the trainer. These observations suggest that it is possible to manage unhandled horses without coercion by mimicking their behaviour patterns. | ||||
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| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 4089 | ||
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| Author | Baragli, P.; Regolin, L | ||||
| Title | Cognitive Tests in Equids (Equus caballus and Equus Asinus) | Type | Conference Article | ||
| Year | 2008 | Publication | IESM 2008 | Abbreviated Journal | |
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| Abstract | For ages horses and donkeys constituted the most important domesticated animals. Even though equids were often bred and kept in close proximity to humans, surprisingly little is known about their cognitive abilities. Traditionally, horses are not regarded as clever animals; common beliefs maintain that the horses“ behaviour is merely driven by conditioned-responses. Additionally, from an anthropomorphic point of view donkeys are believed to be ”stupid“ animals. Our study investigates the equids” ability to recover a hidden object. For this purpose the animal has to create and maintain a representation of the object and its location in space, from the moment in which it disappears from direct perception, till the moment in which it reappears. The knowledge about objects being entities that continue to exist even when they are no longer available for direct perception is refered to as the well known concept of “object permanence”. We primarly assessed the ability of Esperia's pony and donkeys to solve a Detour problem while employing an opaque “U-shaped” barrier. Each animal observed a food bucket moving and disappearing behind the barrier. Immediately after the object"s disappearance, the animal was released to search for the object. If it solved the task by detouring the barrier it was positively reinforced. The ability to retain in memory the hidden object as well as its spatial location was subsequently tested in the presence of two, rather than one, screens (Working Memory testing phase). The food bucket was made to move and hidden behind one of the two identical screens, while the animal was watching it. Following a pre-established delayed period of 10 sec, the animal was set free to look for the food. In such a test the detour problem is combined with the classical delayed-response task, which is in use for the comparison of memory duration in different species. In order to recover the hidden objects, animals must encode, maintain and correctly regain from their working memory the existence of the no longer visible object and its location from their working memory. Both donkeys and ponies performed the Detour task showing to grasp the fact that an object which is no longer perceivable still continues to exist and can be regained. They also were able to correctly retrieve the goal object after a delay of 10 s in the Working Memory tasks, showing that they had encoded, maintained and correclty retrieved from their working memory the spatial location of the hidden object as well as its existence. Nevertheless, when Standardbreds, raised in traditional stables, were tested in identical conditions to those describe for the ponies and donkeys, they could not succeed in the Detour tasks. The reason for such differences needs to be studied Even though it would be interesting to focus on handling differences, i.e., the ponies had been living in an environment rich in natural stimuli, while the Standardbreds had lived in a man-controlled environment since birth. It is also noteworthy that, like donkeys, the Esperia's pony have a reputation for being hard to handle. Several considerations could arise from our preliminary investigations, and we will have the pleasure to leave them open for discussion. |
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| Address | University of Pisa- Dept of Veterinary Anatomy, Biochemistry and Physiology | ||||
| Corporate Author | Baragli, P. | Thesis | |||
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| Area | Expedition | Conference | IESM 2008 | ||
| Notes | Talk 15 min IESM 2008 | Approved | yes | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 4461 | ||
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| Author | Baragli, P.; Tedeschi, D.; Masini, A.P.; Magnaghi, N.; Martelli, F.; Sighieri, C. | ||||
| Title | Estimation of performance in elite endurance horses by means of an exercise test in field conditions | Type | Journal Article | ||
| Year | 2001 | Publication | Ippologia | Abbreviated Journal | Valutazione della performance in cavalli da endurance di elite mediante test diesercizio in campo |
| Volume | 12 | Issue | 1 | Pages | 13-19 |
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| Abstract | In human sports medicine exercise tests are normally used to check training progression. Correlation tests between blood lactate concentration and exercise speed are often used for this purpose. Studies have been done to adjust exercise tests for athletic horses using the same principle. The aim of this work was to verify the practical possibility that the anaerobic threshold in elite endurance horses could be calculated by adjusting a submaximal exercise field test in order to obtain reference parameters for endurance horses. Ten selected horses from the Italian National Endurance Team were used for this study. The tests were conducted on an 800 meters grass oval. Horses performed three steps (800 meters every step), at increasing speed with two minute intervals between each step. Riders were informed of the ideal speed for every step (5, 7.5, 10 m/s) and the real velocity was calculated on the basis of time taken to finish a single step. Blood samples were obtained via venipuncture from the jugular vein, immediately before the beginning of the test and 60 seconds after the end of each step. The following parameters were evaluated for each horse: individual anaerobic threshold (VSI), anaerobic threshold (V4) and exercise velocity corresponding to a lactate concentration of 2 mM/I (V2). Analysis of results indicate that lactate concentration is exponentially related to exercise speed for the entire test. VSI, V4, V2, were (mearttsd): 25.7±5.1; 30.5±2.5; 21.1±2.9 km/h respectively. | ||||
| Address | Dipto. Anat., Biochim. Fisiol. Vet., Univ. degli Studi di Pisa | ||||
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| Notes | Export Date: 13 November 2008; Source: Scopus | Approved | no | ||
| Call Number | Equine Behaviour @ team @ | Serial | 4654 | ||
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