Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Farm Animal Health, Emotion and Cognition Program, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 7, 3584 CL, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Anim Cogn. 2011 Mar;14(2):151-73. doi: 10.1007/s10071-010-0364-3. Epub 2011 Jan 4.
In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in (mini) pigs (Sus scrofa) as species for cognitive research. A major reason for this is their physiological and anatomical similarity with humans. For example, pigs possess a well-developed, large brain. Assessment of the learning and memory functions of pigs is not only relevant to human research but also to animal welfare, given the nature of current farming practices and the demands they make on animal health and behavior. In this article, we review studies of pig cognition, focusing on the underlying processes and mechanisms, with a view to identifying. Our goal is to aid the selection of appropriate cognitive tasks for research into pig cognition. To this end, we formulated several basic criteria for pig cognition tests and then applied these criteria and knowledge about pig-specific sensorimotor abilities and behavior to evaluate the merits, drawbacks, and limitations of the different types of tests used to date. While behavioral studies using (mini) pigs have shown that this species can perform learning and memory tasks, and much has been learned about pig cognition, results have not been replicated or proven replicable because of the lack of validated, translational behavioral paradigms that are specially suited to tap specific aspects of pig cognition. We identified several promising types of tasks for use in studies of pig cognition, such as versatile spatial free-choice type tasks that allow the simultaneous measurement of several behavioral domains. The use of appropriate tasks will facilitate the collection of reliable and valid data on pig cognition.
近年来，小型猪（Sus scrofa）作为认知研究的物种引起了人们的极大兴趣。主要原因是它们在生理和解剖上与人类相似。例如，猪具有发达的大脑。评估猪的学习和记忆功能不仅与人类研究相关，而且与动物福利相关，因为当前的养殖实践性质以及它们对动物健康和行为的要求。在本文中，我们回顾了猪认知的研究，重点介绍了潜在的过程和机制，以期确定。我们的目标是帮助选择适合研究猪认知的认知任务。为此，我们制定了一些猪认知测试的基本标准，然后应用这些标准和关于猪特定感觉运动能力和行为的知识来评估迄今为止使用的不同类型测试的优点、缺点和局限性。虽然使用（小型）猪的行为研究表明，这种物种可以执行学习和记忆任务，并且已经了解了很多关于猪认知的知识，但由于缺乏专门适用于挖掘猪认知特定方面的经过验证、可转化的行为范式，因此结果尚未得到复制或证明具有可复制性。我们确定了几种有前途的猪认知研究任务类型，例如多功能空间自由选择型任务，可同时测量几个行为领域。使用适当的任务将有助于收集关于猪认知的可靠和有效的数据。
