Mood swings in cows : Cognitive and physiological assessments

Abstract

The study of animal emotion, as with its human equivalent, can be confusing due to the complicated and inconsistent use of terminology, and the number of interlinked fields and topics it encompasses. With this review, we aim to provide an up-to-date and, to the best of our knowledge, complete overview of the field of animal emotion, especially intended for newcomers to the field who wish to get a grasp of this field. We start by tackling the terminology and proposing definitions of commonly used terms, and present the different frameworks used for the study of animal emotion. Here, we heavily draw from human literature, as the definitions of animal emotion are derived originally from human research. We follow-up with an overview of current methodologies for the study of animal emotion, in particular the valence dimension of emotion, and include some of the associated limitations linked to these methodologies. We end by pointing out key areas for future research.

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“…When the environment in which a cow lives changes, stress occurs in its body under the influence of a new factor. Depending on individual characteristics, animals react differently to these changes (Kremer et al, 2022). One of the key factors in the mechanism of response to this stress is changes in the autonomic nervous system.…”