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	Author	Scopa, C.; Greco, A.; Contalbrigo, L.; Fratini, E.; Lanatà, A.; Scilingo, E.P.; Baragli, P.
	Title	Inside the Interaction: Contact With Familiar Humans Modulates Heart Rate Variability in Horses			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2020	Publication	Frontiers in Veterinary Science	Abbreviated Journal
	Volume	7	Issue		Pages	998
	Keywords
	Abstract	A human-animal relationship can be developed through subsequent interactions, affected by the positive or negative emotional valence of the proceeding one. Horses implement a process of categorization to classify humans with whom they interact as positive, negative, or neutral stimuli by evaluating the kind of approach and the nature of the contact. In these terms, human-animal interactions are emotionally charged events, eliciting specific emotional states in both subjects involved. Although the human-horse relationship has been mainly investigated through behavioral analysis, physiological indicators are needed for a more objective assessment of the emotional responses. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a commonly used autonomic nervous system (ANS) correlate estimating the sympathovagal balance as a psychophysiological marker of emotion regulation in horses. We have assumed that long-term positive relationships with humans may have a positive and immediate impact on the emotional arousal of the horse, detectable, via ANS activity, during the interaction. We analyzed horses' heartbeat dynamics during their interaction with either familiar or unfamiliar handlers, applying a standardized experimental protocol consisting of three different conditions shifting from the absence of interaction to physical contact. The ANS signals were monitored through an innovative non-invasive wearable system, not interfering with the unconscious emotional response of the animal. We demonstrated that horses appeared to feel more relaxed while physically interacting (e.g., grooming on the right side) with some familiar handlers compared to the same task performed by someone unfamiliar. The shift of the sympathovagal balance toward a vagal predominance suggests that the horses experienced a decrease in stress response as a function not only of the handler's familiarity but also of the type of interaction they are experiencing. These results constitute the objective evidence of horses' capacity to individually recognize a familiar person, adding the crucial role of familiarity with the handler as a paramount component of human-animal interaction. Our rigorous methodological approach may provide a significant contribution to various fields such as animal welfare while further investigating the emotional side of the human-animal relationships.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN	2297-1769	ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	6625
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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
	Keywords
	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.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher	Public Library of Science	Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN		ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	6158
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	Author	Baragli, P.; Scopa, C.; Maglieri, V.; Palagi, E.
	Title	If horses had toes: demonstrating mirror self recognition at group level in Equus caballus			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2021	Publication	Animal Cognition	Abbreviated Journal	Anim. Cogn.
	Volume		Issue		Pages
	Keywords
	Abstract	Mirror self-recognition (MSR), investigated in primates and recently in non-primate species, is considered a measure of self-awareness. Nowadays, the only reliable test for investigating MSR potential skills consists in the untrained response to a visual body mark detected using a reflective surface. Here, we report the first evidence of MSR at group level in horses, by facing the weaknesses of methodology present in a previous pilot study. Fourteen horses were used in a 4-phases mirror test (covered mirror, open mirror, invisible mark, visible colored mark). After engaging in a series of contingency behaviors (looking behind the mirror, peek-a-boo, head and tongue movements), our horses used the mirror surface to guide their movements towards their colored cheeks, thus showing that they can recognize themselves in a mirror. The analysis at the group level, which 'marks' a turning point in the analytical technique of MSR exploration in non-primate species, showed that horses spent a longer time in scratching their faces when marked with the visible mark compared to the non-visible mark. This finding indicates that horses did not see the non-visible mark and that they did not touch their own face guided by the tactile sensation, suggesting the presence of MSR in horses. Although a heated debate on the binary versus gradualist model in the MSR interpretation exists, recent empirical pieces of evidence, including ours, indicate that MSR is not an all-or-nothing phenomenon that appeared once in phylogeny and that a convergent evolution mechanism can be at the basis of its presence in phylogenetically distant taxa.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN	1435-9456	ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @ Baragli2021			Serial	6631
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	Author	Vitale, V.; Balocchi, R.; Varanini, M.; Sgorbini, M.; Macerata, A.; Sighieri, C.; Baragli, P.
	Title	The effects of restriction of movement on the reliability of heart rate variability measurements in the horse (Equus caballus)			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2013	Publication	Journal of Veterinary Behavior	Abbreviated Journal	J. Vet. Behav.
	Volume	8	Issue	5	Pages	400-403
	Keywords	behavior; heart rate variability; horse; measurement; reliability; restriction of movement
	Abstract	Analysis of heart rate variability (HRV) is a noninvasive approach for investigating the sympathovagal balance of the autonomic nervous system. In recent years, HRV has been increasingly evaluated in animal research. In horses, it has been suggested that basal resting conditions can be achieved by restraining them. The aim of this study was to verify how restriction of movement influences HRV i2n horses. Ten healthy standardbred mares were used to measure the electrocardiographic signal under 2 conditions: free to move in the stall and restrained in the stock. Results indicate that the restriction of movement is associated with increased nervous system sympathetic activity not consistent with resting conditions.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN	1558-7878	ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	6618
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	Author	Cozzi, A.; Sighieri, C.; Gazzano, A.; Nicol, C.J.; Baragli, P.
	Title	*Post-conflict friendly reunion in a permanent group of horses (Equus caballus)*			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2010	Publication	Behavioural Processes	Abbreviated Journal	Behav. Process.
	Volume	85	Issue	2	Pages	185-190
	Keywords	aggression; affiliative interactions; conflict resolution; horse; post conflict; behaviour; reconciliation
	Abstract	Gregarious animals living in permanent social groups experience intra-group competition. Conflicts over resources can escalate into costly aggression and, in some conditions, non-dispersive forms of conflict resolution may be favoured. Post-conflict friendly reunions, hence reconciliation, have been described in a variety of species. The aim of this study was to explore, for the first time, the occurrence of reconciliation in a group of domestic horses (Equus caballus) and learn more about strategies used to maintain group cohesion. The behaviour of seven horses living as permanent group in an enclosure for at least 2 years was observed by video for 108 h from June to August 2007. We used a Post-Conflict/Matched Control method to assess the existence of reconciliation and third-party affiliation. Behaviours recorded Post-Conflict, or during Matched Control periods, were classified as affiliative based on previous descriptions of visual communication patterns in horses. The proportion of attracted pairs over total post-conflict situations was significantly greater than the proportion of dispersed pairs, both during dyadic interactions (p < 0.001) and during triadic interactions (p = 0.002). The results of the present study show that both dyadic reconciliation and third-party post-conflict affiliative interactions form important social mechanisms for managing post-conflict situations in horses.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN	0376-6357	ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	5168
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	Author	Baragli, P.; Mariti, C.; Petri, L.; De Giorgio, F.; Sighieri, C.
	Title	Does attention make the difference? Horses' response to human stimulus after 2 different training strategies			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2011	Publication	Journal of Veterinary Behavior: Clinical Applications and Research	Abbreviated Journal	J Vet Behav Clin Appl Res
	Volume	6	Issue	1	Pages	31-38
	Keywords	attention; exploration; horse; human stimulus; training
	Abstract	We hypothesized that in an open environment, horses cope with a series of challenges in their interactions with human beings. If the horse is not physically constrained and is free to move in a small enclosure, it has additional options regarding its behavioral response to the trainer. The aim of our study was to evaluate the influence of 2 different training strategies on the horse’s behavioral response to human stimuli. In all, 12 female ponies were randomly divided into the following 2 groups: group A, wherein horses were trained in a small enclosure (where indicators of the level of attention and behavioral response were used to modulate the training pace and the horse’s control over its response to the stimuli provided by the trainer) and group B, wherein horses were trained in a closed environment (in which the trainer’s actions left no room for any behavioral response except for the one that was requested). Horses’ behavior toward the human subject and their heart rate during 2 standardized behavioral tests were used to compare the responses of the 2 groups. Results indicated that the horses in group A appeared to associate human actions with a positive experience, as highlighted by the greater degree of explorative behavior toward human beings shown by these horses during the tests. The experience of the horses during training may have resulted in different evaluations of the person, as a consequence of the human’s actions during training; therefore, it seems that horses evaluate human beings on daily relationship experiences.
	Address	attention; exploration; horse; human stimulus; training
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN	1558-7878	ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	5286
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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.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN		ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	4089
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	Author	Baragli, P.; Vitale, V.; Paoletti, E.; Mengoli, M.; Sighieri, C.
	Title	Encoding the Object Position for Assessment of Short Term Spatial Memory in Horses (Equus caballus)			Type	Journal Article
	Year	2011	Publication	International Journal of Comparative Psychology	Abbreviated Journal
	Volume	24	Issue	3	Pages
	Keywords
	Abstract	In this study, the detour problem was combined with the classic delayed-response task to investigate equine short-term spatial memory. Test subjects were eight female horses, divided into two groups (A and B) of four subjects each. The motivating object was made to move and disappear behind one oftwo identical obstacles in a two-point-choice apparatus. After a 10 s (Group A) or 30 s (Group B) delay the animal was released to seek the object. Both groups made more correct (14.8 ± 1.3 forGroup A and 13.5 ± 3.1 for Group B, mean ± SD) than incorrect choices (5.3 ± 1.3 for Group A and6.5 ± 3.1 for Group B, mean ± SD) and the performance of each group was significantly above chance level (z = 4.14, p = 0.000, for Group A and z = 3.02, p = 0.002, for Group B). Therefore, tested animals were able to recover the object by approaching the correct obstacle after 10 s or 30 s delays, showing that they had encoded and recovered from memory the existence of the target object and its location.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher		Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN	2168-3344	ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes				Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	6178
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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
	Keywords
	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.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher	Elsevier	Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	ISSN		ISBN		Medium
	Area		Expedition		Conference
	Notes	doi: 10.1016/j.applanim.2015.02.017			Approved	no
	Call Number	Equine Behaviour @ team @			Serial	5849
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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
	Keywords
	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.
	Address
	Corporate Author				Thesis
	Publisher	Taylor & Francis	Place of Publication		Editor
	Language		Summary Language		Original Title
	Series Editor		Series Title		Abbreviated Series Title
	Series Volume		Series Issue		Edition
	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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