AsianScientist (Jul. 2, 2018) – Scientists in Japan have demonstrated that horses integrate human facial expressions and voice tones to perceive human emotion, regardless of whether the person is familiar to them or not. Their findings are published in Scientific Reports.
Recent studies on animal behavior have shown that herd-forming animals possess sophisticated communication capabilities and can read the emotions of their peers through facial expressions and contact calls. Horses have long been used as working animals and companions to humans in sports and leisure. They are known to establish close relationships with their human handlers.
In the present study, a research group led by Associate Professor Ayaka Takimoto of Hokkaido University, Japan, has demonstrated that horses can read human emotions based on cues from human facial expressions and voices. The scientists used the expectancy violation method to assess horses, a technique typically used to study infant cognitive development.
The researchers exposed horses to pictures of happy facial expressions or angry facial expressions on a screen, followed by pre-recorded human voices in happy or angry tones. The horses received both the congruent condition, in which the emotional values of facial expression and voice tone were matched, and the incongruent condition, in which they were not.
The horses responded to voices 1.6-2.0 times faster in the incongruent condition than in the congruent condition, regardless of the familiarity of the person. In addition, the horses looked at the speaker 1.4 times longer in the incongruent condition than in the congruent condition when the person was familiar.
The researchers therefore concluded that the horses were capable of associating tone of voice with facial expressions to interpret human emotions.
“Our study could contribute to the understanding of how humans and companion animals send and receive emotional signals to deepen our relationships, which could help establish a better relationships that emphasize the well-being of animals,” said Takimoto.
The article can be found at: Nakamura et al. (2018) Cross-modal Perception of Human Emotion in Domestic Horses (Equus caballus).
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Source: Hokkaido University; Photo: Ayaka Takimoto.
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