How Studying Interactions Between Animal Emotions, Cognition, and Personality Can Contribute to Improve Farm - Genetics and the Behavior of Domestic Animals - page 89

the individual's evaluation is that he can control the challenging situation
( Sander et al., 2005 ).
The framework based on appraisal theories was recently transposed to
animals ( D´sir´ et al., 2002 ). We developed various experimental situa-
tions in sheep that were designed to activate one by one the evaluative
characteristics, in order to ascertain which ones are relevant to animals
( Boissy et al., 2007a; Veissier et al.,2009 ). Cardiac and behavioral reac-
tions were recorded to probe the links between presumed appraisal and
measurable emotional outcomes. As already reported in many species, it
was found that sheep reacted to sudden and novel events ( D´sir´ et al.,
2004, 2006 ). The evaluation of these elementary characteristics appears
rather automatic, and may not require the animal to be aware of its evalua-
tion of the situation. More interestingly, it was found that the emotional
responses of sheep (e.g., behavioral and cardiac responses) are also affected
by the predictability of a situation, its controllability, or its consistency
with the animal's expectations ( Greiveldinger et al., 2007, 2009, 2011 ). More
recently, we found that the emotional responses to a threatening event are influ-
enced by the animal's social context ( Greiveldinger et al.,2012 ). Exposed to a
sudden event (a panel falling down behind a trough when the animal is eating),
sheep are more likely to display overt external responses (stepping back from
the trough) when they are accompanied by a subordinate group-mate, but inter-
nal responses (tachycardia) when they are accompanied by a dominant group-
mate. Therefore, it is clear that sheep are responsive to the main appraisal
characteristics defined in human studies. Although this approach has not
been completed for many farm animals, it is now widely accepted that not
only mammals but also poultry can feel emotions ( Morm`de et al., 2007;
Valance et al.,2008 ).
Since animals can use appraisal processes similar to humans, we can
consider that they not only express emotional responses that in that case
could be considered reflexes, but they really do feel emotions ( Veissier
et al., 2009 ). This is in line with several studies that highlight the existence
of mutual neural circuits underlying experience and expression of emotions
in both human and animal ( Boissy et al., 2007a; Spruijt, 2001 ). Referring to
the studies conducted in sheep and based on the elementary characteristics
sheep use to evaluate their environment, it is suggested that they can experi-
ence a wide range of emotions: (i) fear and anger, as they are sensitive to
suddenness, unpredictability, controllability, and social norms; (ii) rage, as
they respond to suddenness, unfamiliarity, unpredictability, discrepancy from
expectations, controllability, and social norms; (iii) despair, as they react to
suddenness, unfamiliarity, unpredictability, discrepancy from expectations, and
controllability; and (iv) boredom, as they are sensitive to suddenness, unfami-
liarity, unpredictability, discrepancy from expectations, and controllability
( Veissier et al.,2009 ). Using a similar pragmatic framework in various farm
animal species, comparisons across phyla could provide critical insights into the