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Domestic horses (Equus caballus) discriminate between negative and positive human nonverbal vocalisations
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 14:45 authored by Amy Victoria Smith, Leanne Proops, Kate Grounds, Jennifer Wathan, Sophie K Scott, Karen MccombThe ability to discriminate between emotion in vocal signals is highly adaptive in social species. It may also be adaptive for domestic species to distinguish such signals in humans. Here we present a playback study investigating whether horses spontaneously respond in a functionally relevant way towards positive and negative emotion in human nonverbal vocalisations. We presented horses with positively- and negatively-valenced human vocalisations (laughter and growling, respectively) in the absence of all other emotional cues. Horses were found to adopt a freeze posture for significantly longer immediately after hearing negative versus positive human vocalisations, suggesting that negative voices promote vigilance behaviours and may therefore be perceived as more threatening. In support of this interpretation, horses held their ears forwards for longer and performed fewer ear movements in response to negative voices, which further suggest increased vigilance. In addition, horses showed a right-ear/left-hemisphere bias when attending to positive compared with negative voices, suggesting that horses perceive laughter as more positive than growling. These findings raise interesting questions about the potential for universal discrimination of vocal affect and the role of lifetime learning versus other factors in interspecific communication.
Funding
BBSRC doctoral studentship; BBSRC; BB/F016808/1
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Published version
Journal
Scientific ReportsISSN
2045-2322Publisher
Nature Publishing GroupExternal DOI
Issue
13502Volume
8Page range
1-8Department affiliated with
- Psychology Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-09-04First Open Access (FOA) Date
2018-09-04First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-09-03Usage metrics
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