liu.seSearch for publications in DiVA
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • oxford
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Judgement Bias in Miniature Donkeys: Conditioning Factors and Personality Links
Linköping University, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology, Biology. Linköping University, Faculty of Science & Engineering.
Inst Agr Res & Training IFAPA, Spain; Univ Cordoba, Spain; Univ Cordoba, Spain.
Univ Kentucky, KY 40546 USA.
Univ Cordoba, Spain; Univ Calif Davis, CA 95616 USA.
2021 (English)In: Animals, E-ISSN 2076-2615, Vol. 11, no 9, article id 2737Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Simple Summary Optimism and pessimism may affect the way individuals perceive elements of the environment which they are surrounded by, but the mechanisms behind these processes are yet to be thoroughly described. The present study addresses judgement bias and its correlation with personality in Miniature Donkeys. Individuals were scored on eighteen personality traits and their response to an ambiguous stimulus. Judgement bias presents intrinsic individual differences. The correlation found between patience and pessimism suggests that personality-related conditions may shape the way individuals interpret new stimuli. Improving our knowledge of tools that measure donkeys mood may play a pivotal role from an animal welfare perspective, as it may provide a better understanding of individuals interaction among handlers, congeners, and with the environment, and issue their own verdicts after such interactions. Expectation-related bias may configure individuals perception of their surrounding environment and of the elements present in it. This study aimed to determine the repercussions of environmental (weather elements) or subject-inherent factors (sex, age, or personality features) on judgment bias. A cognitive bias test was performed in eight Miniature jennies and four jacks. Test comprised habituation, training and testing phases during which subjects were trained on how to complete the test and scored based on their latency to approach an ambiguous stimulus. A questionnaire evaluating eleven personality features was parallelly completed by three caretakers, five operators and two care assistants to determine the links between personality features and judgment bias. Adjusted latencies did not significantly differ between sexes (Mann-Whitney test, p > 0.05). Although Miniature donkeys can discriminate positive/negative stimuli, inter-individual variability evidences were found. Such discrimination is evidenced by significant latency differences to approach positive/negative stimuli (33.7 +/- 43.1 vs. 145.5 +/- 53.1 s) (Mann-Whitney test, p < 0.05). Latencies significantly increased with patience, indicative of an expression of pessimism. Better understanding judgement bias mechanisms and implications may help optimize routine handling practices in the framework of animal welfare.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
MDPI , 2021. Vol. 11, no 9, article id 2737
Keywords [en]
cognition; optimism; pessimism; equid; patience
National Category
Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-180304DOI: 10.3390/ani11092737ISI: 000700627100001PubMedID: 34573703OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-180304DiVA, id: diva2:1603484
Available from: 2021-10-15 Created: 2021-10-15 Last updated: 2024-01-17

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textPubMed

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Pinto, Maria
By organisation
BiologyFaculty of Science & Engineering
In the same journal
Animals
Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
pubmed
urn-nbn
Total: 22 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • oxford
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf