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is an adequate coping behavior. Meehan and Mench (2007) suggested that
successful dealing with adequate cognitive challenges can induce positive
emotion. Hence, frequent challenges that can always be successfully mas-
tered and eventually enable the animal to reach a desired and rewarding
goal may be suitable means to regularly elicit positive emotions. Using
such a cognitive approach, a program of research on the effects of
rewarded cognitive processes has been developed ( Ernst et al., 2005 ):
each animal out of a group of pigs had to learn an individual acoustic
signal as a call to work for food by pressing a button. Using this
approach, Zebunke et al. (2011) report transient cardiac reaction revealing
positive emotional experiences in pigs. Interestingly, pigs reared for sev-
eral weeks under such a complex but predictable environment presenting
positive challenges with which individuals are able to cope, present modi-
fications in the reward-sensitive brain opioid receptors compared to con-
ventionally housed pigs, indicating frequently occurring positive experiences
( Kalbe and Puppe, 2010 ). In conclusion, this brief review on cognitive environ-
mental enrichment provides valuable insights into the eliciting of positive emo-
tions in animals. Based on the principle of animal-based measurements,
adequate cognitive challenges are evaluated as emotionally positive by the
tested animals.
Promoting Positive Experiences to Mitigate Negative Experiences
and to Improve Animal Welfare and Health
Cognitive enrichment, such as anticipatory behavior, might be useful in
developing a behavioral therapy to counteract the deleterious effects of
stress. For instance, rats submitted to prolonged stress did not develop
anhedonia—a major symptom of depression—if they received repeated food
rewards announcements, suggesting that positive experiences can counteract
the deleterious consequences of negative experiences ( van der Harst et al.,
2005 ). Thus, signals of reward might form the basis for a new enrichment
strategy. Likewise, reduction of fearfulness reduces pessimistic-like judg-
ment in lambs compared with stressed counterparts ( Destrez et al., 2012 ).
Furthermore, induction of anticipation via the announcement of certain
alarming events might also be a way to reduce the negative emotion
induced by such events. For instance, sheep for which the appearance of a
sudden event was preceded by a light signal expressed fewer fear reac-
tions than their counterparts that could not anticipate ( Greiveldinger et al.,
2007 ). Therefore, the implementation of cognitive challenges into animal
housing, based on positive anticipation, positive contrast, and positive con-
trol, is a promising approach to induce long-lasting positive effects on ani-
mal welfare.
Although welfare and health are distinct concepts, they influence each
other. Considering health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social
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