Animal Production Systems Group, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 338, 6700 AH, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Livestock Research, Wageningen University & Research, PO Box 338, 6700 AH, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Sci Rep. 2021 Nov 26;11(1):22984. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01843-w.
Affective states can be inferred from responses to ambiguous and threatening stimuli, using Judgement Bias Tasks (JBTs) and Attention Bias Tasks (ABTs). We investigated the separate and interactive effects of personality and housing conditions on dairy cattle affective states. We assessed personality in 48 heifers using Open-Field, Novel-Object and Runway tests. Personality effects on responses to the JBT and to the ABT were examined when heifers were housed under reference conditions. Heifers were subsequently housed under positive or negative conditions, and housing effects on animal responses in both tasks were investigated while controlling for personality. A Principal Component Analysis revealed three personality traits labelled Activity, Fearfulness and Sociability. Under reference conditions, personality influenced heifers' responses to the JBT and to the ABT, therefore questioning the tasks' generalizability across individuals. Against expectations, housing did not influence responses to the JBT and heifers in the negative conditions looked at the threat later than heifers in the positive or reference conditions. More research is warranted to confirm the validity and the repeatability of the JBT and of the ABT as appropriate measures of affective states in dairy cows.
情绪状态可以通过判断偏差任务 (JBT) 和注意偏差任务 (ABT) 对模棱两可和威胁性刺激的反应来推断。我们研究了个性和住房条件对奶牛情绪状态的单独和交互影响。我们使用开阔地、新物体和跑道测试对 48 头小母牛进行了个性评估。当小母牛在参考条件下饲养时，研究了个性对 JBT 和 ABT 反应的影响。随后，小母牛被安置在积极或消极的环境中，并在控制个性的情况下研究了环境对两种任务中动物反应的影响。主成分分析揭示了三个个性特征，分别是活动性、恐惧和社交性。在参考条件下，个性影响小母牛对 JBT 和 ABT 的反应，因此质疑这些任务在个体之间的通用性。出乎意料的是，住房条件并没有影响小母牛对 JBT 的反应，而且处于消极环境中的小母牛比处于积极环境或参考环境中的小母牛更晚地观察到威胁。需要进一步的研究来确认 JBT 和 ABT 作为评估奶牛情绪状态的适当方法的有效性和可重复性。
