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Animal cognition2021; 24(5); 999-1006; doi: 10.1007/s10071-021-01487-3

Horses are sensitive to baby talk: pet-directed speech facilitates communication with humans in a pointing task and during grooming.

Abstract: Pet-directed speech (PDS) is a type of speech humans spontaneously use with their companion animals. It is very similar to speech commonly used when talking to babies. A survey on social media showed that 92.7% of the respondents used PDS with their horse, but only 44.4% thought that their horse was sensitive to it, and the others did not know or doubted its efficacy. We, therefore, decided to test the impact of PDS on two tasks. During a grooming task that consisted of the experimenter scratching the horse with their hand, the horses (n = 20) carried out significantly more mutual grooming gestures toward the experimenter, looked at the person more, and moved less when spoken to with PDS than with Adult-directed speech (ADS). During a pointing task in which the experimenter pointed at the location of a reward with their finger, horses who had been spoken to with PDS (n = 10) found the food significantly more often than chance, which was not the case when horses were spoken to with ADS (n = 10). These results thus indicate that horses, like certain non-human primates and dogs are sensitive to PDS. PDS could thus foster communication between people and horses during everyday interactions.
© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
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Publication Date: 2021-03-18 PubMed ID: 33738670PubMed Central: 5908831DOI: 10.1007/s10071-021-01487-3Google Scholar: Lookup
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  • Journal Article

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

This research paper investigates how horses respond to pet-directed speech (PDS), a speaking style similar to how humans speak to infants. The researchers found that horses reacted more positively during a grooming task and food-finding task when spoken to with PDS than with adult-directed speech (ADS), suggesting that PDS may foster communication between horses and humans.

Research Context and Methods

  • The research was sparked by a social media survey that showed, while 92.7% of respondents used PDS with their horses, only 44.4% believed their horse was receptive to it. Others doubted its efficacy or were unsure.
  • Considering this, the researchers decided to test the impact of PDS on horses during two tasks – a grooming task and a pointing task.
  • In the grooming task, the experimenter scratched the horse with their hand. The horse’s behaviors, such as performing mutual grooming gestures, looking at the person, and their degree of movement, were noted.
  • In the pointing task, the experimenter pointed at the location of a reward (food) with their finger. The researchers observed whether horses could find the food depending on the type of speech — PDS or ADS — used to direct them.

Research Findings

  • The study found that horses who were spoken to with PDS (n = 20) showed significantly more mutual grooming gestures, looked at the experimenter more, and moved less during the grooming task than when spoken to with ADS.
  • In the pointing task, horses guided with PDS (n = 10) were able to find the food significantly more often than chance, contrasting with those guided by ADS (n = 10) speech.
  • The results suggest that horses, similar to some non-human primates and dogs, are sensitive to PDS.

Conclusion and Implication

  • The results indicate that the PDS speaking style could improve communication between humans and horses during everyday interactions.
  • While most horse owners already intuitively use PDS, this research provides concrete evidence to support its effectiveness.

Cite This Article

APA
Lansade L, Trösch M, Parias C, Blanchard A, Gorosurreta E, Calandreau L. (2021). Horses are sensitive to baby talk: pet-directed speech facilitates communication with humans in a pointing task and during grooming. Anim Cogn, 24(5), 999-1006. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-021-01487-3

Publication

Animal cognition
ISSN: 1435-9456
NlmUniqueID: 9814573
Country: Germany
Language: English
Volume: 24
Issue: 5
Pages: 999-1006

Researcher Affiliations

Lansade, Léa
  • PRC, INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, University Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France. lea.lansade@inrae.fr.
Trösch, Miléna
  • PRC, INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, University Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Parias, Céline
  • PRC, INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, University Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Blanchard, Alice
  • PRC, INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, University Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Gorosurreta, Elodie
  • PRC, INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, University Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Calandreau, Ludovic
  • PRC, INRAE, CNRS, IFCE, University Tours, 37380, Nouzilly, France.

MeSH Terms

  • Animal Communication
  • Animals
  • Dogs
  • Emotions
  • Gestures
  • Grooming
  • Horses
  • Humans
  • Speech

Grant Funding

  • 00004819 / IFCE

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Citations

This article has been cited 8 times.
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