title: Emotion Evaluation and Response Slowing in a Non-Human Primate: New Directions for Cognitive Bias Measures of Animal Emotion?
abstract: The cognitive bias model of animal welfare assessment is informed by studies with humans demonstrating that the interaction between emotion and cognition can be detected using laboratory tasks. A limitation of cognitive bias tasks is the amount of training required by animals prior to testing. A potential solution is to use biologically relevant stimuli that trigger innate emotional responses. Here; we develop a new method to assess emotion in rhesus macaques; informed by paradigms used with humans: emotional Stroop; visual cueing and; in particular; response slowing. In humans; performance on a simple cognitive task can become impaired when emotional distractor content is displayed. Importantly; responses become slower in anxious individuals in the presence of mild threat; a pattern not seen in non-anxious individuals; who are able to effectively process and disengage from the distractor. Here; we present a proof-of-concept study; demonstrating that rhesus macaques show slowing of responses in a simple touch-screen task when emotional content is introduced; but only when they had recently experienced a presumably stressful veterinary inspection. Our results indicate the presence of a subtle "cognitive freeze" response; the measurement of which may provide a means of identifying negative shifts in emotion in animals.
authors.affiliation: Research Centre in Brain and Behaviour, School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, James Parsons Building, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool L3 3AF, UK. E.J.Bethell@ljmu.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Emily J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Bethell
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Cognition, Emotion and Interaction, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, UK. a.holmes@roehampton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Holmes
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Evolutionary, Social and Interdisciplinary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, UK. a.maclarnon@roehampton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: MacLarnon
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research in Evolutionary, Social and Interdisciplinary Anthropology, University of Roehampton, London SW15 4JD, UK. s.semple@roehampton.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Semple
keywords: animal welfare; appraisal theory; attention bias; cognitive bias; emotion evaluation; emotional stroop; freeze; primate; response slowing; rhesus macaque