Lecture 16 - Emotion in Animals

what were the results of the study that investigated how people attribute emotions to animals?

• survey 907 pet owners

• found that almost all owners reports primary emotions occurring

• secondary emotions less common to be reported

how might anthropomorphism be helpful or harmful?

• do we project our emotional thoughts and experiences onto animals?

  • helpful: hypothesis generation + welfare improvement

  • harmful: misinterpretation, scientific bias

• how are emotions defined in animals?

• how is this different from affect?

• Emotions in animals are often defined as internal responses to environmental stimuli, expressed through observable behavior and physiology changes

  • contextual interpretation is key

  • behavioral expressions may vary depending on individual experience and social dynamics

• Different from affect

  • affect encompasses broad internal states, including personality traits, moods, and emotions

  • commonly categorized by valence - positive or negative

• how do we measure emotions?

  • how does it relate to the central model of emotion?

• Centralist Model of Emotion

  • stimulus → perception → activation of brain centers → behavior, physiological arousal, cognition, feelings

• Within the centralist model of emotion we measure emotion by looking at behavior and physiological arousal

how has fear been shown in the behavior of vervet monkey alarm calls?

• Vervet monkeys live in complex social groups in a savanna environment with multiple predators

• Distinct alarm calls for different predators:

  • Leopard → alarm call - run into the trees

  • Eagle → alarm call - look up and dive into the bushes

  • Snake → alarm call - stand upright and scan ground

• Alarm call is a response to fear

• See fear manifest by

  • Physiological arousal “flight”

  • context-appropriate escape behaviors

  • call production is urgent + rapid (vocal patterns)

how has fear conditioning been shown in California sea lions?

• this study on California sea lions shows how fear can be used (and misused) in management

• researchers tried to reduce conflict between sea lions and fisheries by using sound to condition fear

  • neutral tone + startle pulse was meant to create a conditioned fear response

• BUT:

  • startle sounds alone were effective

  • conditioned stimuli (tone) had minimal effect, and in some cases reduced the overall fear response

• shows that fear isn’t static - it’s a dynamic learned process

how has jealousy been studied in domestic dogs?

• to investigate whether domestic dogs experience a form of jealousy, similar to that seen in human infants, particularly in response to social rivals

• dogs observed their owners interacting affectionately with three different objects:

  • a realistic looking stuffed dog (appeared to be a social rival)

  • a novel object (a jack-o-lantern pail)

  • a book (control condition)

• Results

  • dogs showed significantly more jealous behaviors —

    • such as snapping, pushing between the owner and object, and touching the owner or object when the owner interacted with the stuffed dog, compared to the nonsocial objects

  • jealousy may not be uniquely human

how has grief been studied in African elephants?

• African elephants are highly social, matriarchal group with lifelong bonds

  • elephants touch, nuzzle, and linger around the body of a deceased elephant

  • animals will return to the place where an individual dies, up to years later

  • withdrawal and decreased play in juveniles after a family member dies

why are positive emotions more difficult to study?

• “fuzzier boundaries”

  • distinct triggers are harder to pinpoint

• Less functional clarity

  • oftentimes, do not drive immediate action

• measurement difficulty

  • harder to induce authentic “joy”

how have bottlenose dolphins been shown to produce positive emotions?

• dolphins produce a type of vocalization called a burst pulse

• ‘Victory squal’

  • a type of burst pulse

  • shown after reward and task completion

  • likely linked to satisfaction / joy

how have bottlenose dolphins’ burst pulses been studied?

• dolphins participated in a match-to-match sample task, where they viewed a sample object and had to choose the correct match from several options

• Results:

  • burst pulses occurred in 74% of trials with a significantly higher frequency during correct responses

  • more burst pulses were produced before the trainer’s bridge signal (a cue marking a correct response), rather than after

  • suggest they are linked to the dolphins’ interest or excitement, not just a response to reinforcement

why does it even matter whether or nor animals experience emotion?

• emotions guide behavior

  • better predict behavior in natural and captive settings

  • interpret communication

• comparative view of cognition

• better practices in research, zoos, farming, and conservation

  • ex. automated alert systems in place for detecting fear and stress in farm animal's’ vocalizations