title: Effects of environmental enrichment on cognitive performance of pigs in a spatial holeboard discrimination task.
abstract: This study investigated the effects of environmental enrichment on the cognitive performance of female conventional farm (growing) pigs in a spatial holeboard task. Ten pairs of littermates matched for weight were used. From each litter, one piglet was randomly assigned to a barren environment; the other was assigned to an enriched environment from 4 weeks of age. The enriched environment was double the size of the barren environment, had a floor covered with straw, a rooting area filled with peat, and one of the four different enrichment toys which were exchanged daily. Starting at 11 weeks of age, all pigs were tested in a spatial holeboard discrimination task in which 4 out of 16 holes were baited. Furthermore, basal salivary cortisol levels of all pigs were determined after the end of all testing. All pigs were able to acquire the pattern of baited holes (acquisition phase, 40 trials) and the diagonally mirrored pattern (reversal phase, 20 trials). During the acquisition phase, the reference memory performance of the enriched-housed pigs was better than that of their barren-housed littermates, i.e. they reduced visits to the unbaited set of holes. During the reversal phase, enriched-housed pigs had a better general working memory performance than the barren-housed pigs as indicated by reduced revisits to holes already visited during a trial, irrespective of whether they were of the baited or the unbaited set. The enriched-housed pigs also searched for the hidden bait faster during both phases. The environments did not affect basal salivary cortisol levels. In conclusion, environmental enrichment slightly improved the cognitive performance of pigs in a spatial learning task. We hypothesise that the long period of habituation to and testing in the holeboard acted as enrichment that partially reduced the effects of barren housing.
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Cognition Group, Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands. cgrimberg@tierzucht.uni-kiel.de.|Adaptation Physiology Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands. cgrimberg@tierzucht.uni-kiel.de.|Institute of Animal Breeding and Husbandry, Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany. cgrimberg@tierzucht.uni-kiel.de.
authors.forename: Charlotte G E
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Grimberg-Henrici
authors.affiliation: Applied Biology, HAS, University of Applied Sciences, Den Bosch, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vermaak
authors.affiliation: Adaptation Physiology Group, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J Elizabeth
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bolhuis
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Cognition Group, Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Rebecca E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Nordquist
authors.affiliation: Emotion and Cognition Group, Department of Farm Animal Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.|Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: F Josef
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: van der Staay
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003071:Cognition; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006799:Housing, Animal; D006854:Hydrocortisone / Q000378:metabolism; D008568:Memory; D011897:Random Allocation; D012463:Saliva / Q000737:chemistry; D065853:Spatial Learning; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D006854:Hydrocortisone
keywords: (General) working memory; Environmental enrichment; Pig (Sus scrofa); Reference memory; Salivary cortisol; Spatial holeboard task