Visual attention, an indicator of human-animal relationships? A study of domestic horses (Equus caballus)

Abstract

As visual attention is an intrinsic part of social relationships, and because relationships are built on a succession of interactions, their establishment involves learning and attention. The emotional, rewarding or punishing, content can modulate selective attention. In horses, the use of positive/negative reinforcement during training determines short and long-term human-horse relationships. In a recent study in horses, where either food or withers' grooming were used as a reward, it appeared that only the food-rewarded horses learned the task and show better relationship with humans. In the present study, we hypothesized that this differential effect of grooming/food rewards on learning performances could be due to attentional processes. Monitoring, gazes and behaviors directed towards the trainer revealed that the use of a food reward (FR) as positive reinforcement increased horses' selective attention towards their trainer. Conversely, horses trained with grooming reward (GR) expressed more inattentive responses and did not show a decrease of “agitated” behavior. However, individual plotting of attention vs. rate of learning performances revealed a complex pattern. Thus, while all FR horses showed a “window” of attention related to faster learning performances, GR horses' pattern followed an almost normal curve where the extreme animals (i.e., highest and lowest attention) had the slowest learning performances. On the other hand, learning was influenced by attention: at the end of training, the more attentive horses had also better learning performances. This study, based on horses, contributes to the general debate on the place of attentional processes at the interface of emotion and cognition and opens new lines of thought about individual sensitivities (only individuals can tell what an appropriate reward is), attentional processes and learning.

Assessing equine emotional state

“…Selective attention is also affected by potential reward value. When training horses to remain immobile, Rochais et al (2014) found that greater attention was paid to the trainer and learning performance was enhanced if the reinforcement used was food as opposed to wither scratching. Attention bias offers a means of assessing underlying positive and negative emotion in horses.…”

Spontaneous attention-capture by auditory distractors as predictor of distractibility: a study of domestic horses (Equus caballus)

“…For working horses, distractibility is a major problem both in terms of performances and of security for handlers and riders. Less attentive horses are known to learn less well 12 , 13 as do horses distracted by human presence 14 or in an altered welfare state 15 .…”

“…This study performed in horses (a species known for reacting easily to sounds e.g . 16 and whose attentional state and direction of attention can be easily identified through postural cues 12 , 17 , 18 ) proposes a short simple test based on the broadcast of novel sounds that could be used to assess distractibility in the daily life environment. We hypothesized that unexpected unusual sounds would provide a reliable source of distraction and that individuals’ responses ( e.g .…”

Meeting points: choreographies of horses and humans

“…Wild animals perhaps know where we are, but it is companion animals who seem to attend closely to what we do and say. Given our long coexistence with dogs and horses in particular, it is not surprising that these animals have abilities to recognise and pay attention to our gestures and emotions (Rochais et al 2014;Smith et al 2016;Albuquerque et al 2016). If I enter the stable of one of my (familiar) horses, how we interact is shaped partly by how much we attend to one another in that moment and also by our shared histories.…”