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Animal cognition2023; 26(5); 1733-1742; doi: 10.1007/s10071-023-01817-7

Horses discriminate between human facial and vocal expressions of sadness and joy.

Abstract: Communication of emotions plays a key role in intraspecific social interactions and likely in interspecific interactions. Several studies have shown that animals perceive human joy and anger, but few studies have examined other human emotions, such as sadness. In this study, we conducted a cross-modal experiment, in which we showed 28 horses two soundless videos simultaneously, one showing a sad, and one a joyful human face. These were accompanied by either a sad or joyful voice. The number of horses whose first look to the video that was incongruent with the voice was longer than their first look to the congruent video was higher than chance, suggesting that horses could form cross-modal representations of human joy and sadness. Moreover, horses were more attentive to the videos of joy and looked at them for longer, more frequently, and more rapidly than the videos of sadness. Their heart rates tended to increase when they heard joy and to decrease when they heard sadness. These results show that horses are able to discriminate facial and vocal expressions of joy and sadness and may form cross-modal representations of these emotions; they also are more attracted to joyful faces than to sad faces and seem to be more aroused by a joyful voice than a sad voice. Further studies are needed to better understand how horses perceive the range of human emotions, and we propose that future experiments include neutral stimuli as well as emotions with different arousal levels but a same valence.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
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Publication Date: 2023-08-06 PubMed ID: 37543956PubMed Central: 4785927DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01817-7Google Scholar: Lookup
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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.

The study revolves around understanding how horses perceive and react to human emotions, especially joy and sadness.

Background:

  • Emotion communication is vital for social interactions within a species and possibly between different species.
  • Previous research indicates animals can recognize certain human emotions like joy and anger. However, understanding of emotions like sadness is limited.

Experiment:

  • Participants: 28 horses.
  • Setup: Horses were shown two simultaneous silent videos. One displayed a happy human face, and the other showed a sad face. Alongside the visuals, a voice expressing either joy or sadness was played.
  • The researchers observed which video the horses looked at first and for how long, comparing the reactions between congruent (e.g., sad face with sad voice) and incongruent (e.g., sad face with happy voice) scenarios.

Findings:

  • Horses seemed to recognize the mismatch when the emotion expressed in the voice did not match the facial expression in the video.
  • Horses displayed more attention towards the joyful faces. They looked at happy videos more often, for longer durations, and initiated their gaze more quickly than when looking at sad videos.
  • In terms of physiological response, horses’ heart rates tended to rise with joyful voices and decrease with sad voices.

Conclusions:

  • Horses can differentiate between human expressions of joy and sadness in both facial and vocal cues. They might even form a combined understanding of these emotions across different senses (like hearing and seeing).
  • Horses seem more drawn to happy human expressions and might be more emotionally stirred by joyful sounds than sad ones.
  • The researchers recommend that future studies should consider adding neutral emotional stimuli and exploring emotions of similar positivity or negativity but with varying intensity levels.

In simpler terms, this study suggests that horses can understand and react differently to human expressions of joy and sadness. They seem more attracted to and possibly uplifted by happiness, while sadness has a calming or downplaying effect on them.

Cite This Article

APA
Jardat P, Liehrmann O, Reigner F, Parias C, Calandreau L, Lansade L. (2023). Horses discriminate between human facial and vocal expressions of sadness and joy. Anim Cogn, 26(5), 1733-1742. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-023-01817-7

Publication

Animal cognition
ISSN: 1435-9456
NlmUniqueID: 9814573
Country: Germany
Language: English
Volume: 26
Issue: 5
Pages: 1733-1742

Researcher Affiliations

Jardat, Plotine
  • CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France. plotine.jardat@gmail.com.
Liehrmann, Océane
  • Department of Biology, University of Turku, 20500, Turku, Finland.
Reigner, Fabrice
  • UEPAO, INRAE, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Parias, Céline
  • CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Calandreau, Ludovic
  • CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France.
Lansade, Léa
  • CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRC, 37380, Nouzilly, France. lea.lansade@inrae.fr.

MeSH Terms

  • Humans
  • Horses
  • Animals
  • Sadness
  • Facial Expression
  • Emotions / physiology
  • Happiness
  • Voice

Grant Funding

  • 32 001176-Cognition Equine / French Horse and Riding Institute

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Citations

This article has been cited 5 times.
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