Emotion Evaluation and Response Slowing in a Non-Human Primate: New Directions for Cognitive Bias Measures of Animal Emotion?

Bethell, Emily J.; Holmes, Amanda; MacLarnon, Ann; Semple, Stuart

Abstract

The cognitive bias model of animal welfare assessment is informed by studies with humans demonstrating that the interaction between emotion and cognition can be detected using laboratory tasks. A limitation of cognitive bias tasks is the amount of training required by animals prior to testing. A potential solution is to use biologically relevant stimuli that trigger innate emotional responses. Here; we develop a new method to assess emotion in rhesus macaques; informed by paradigms used with humans: emotional Stroop; visual cueing and; in particular; response slowing. In humans; performance on a simple cognitive task can become impaired when emotional distractor content is displayed. Importantly; responses become slower in anxious individuals in the presence of mild threat; a pattern not seen in non-anxious individuals; who are able to effectively process and disengage from the distractor. Here; we present a proof-of-concept study; demonstrating that rhesus macaques show slowing of responses in a simple touch-screen task when emotional content is introduced; but only when they had recently experienced a presumably stressful veterinary inspection. Our results indicate the presence of a subtle “cognitive freeze” response; the measurement of which may provide a means of identifying negative shifts in emotion in animals.

Citation

Bethell, E. J., Holmes, A., MacLarnon, A., & Semple, S. (2016). Emotion Evaluation and Response Slowing in a Non-Human Primate: New Directions for Cognitive Bias Measures of Animal Emotion?. Behavioral Sciences, 6(1), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs6010002

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 27, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jan 11, 2016
• Publication Date: Jan 11, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 23, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 28, 2018
• Journal: Behavioral Sciences
• Electronic ISSN: 2076-328X
• Publisher: MDPI
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 2
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/bs6010002
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1322500