Do animals have emotions? Wel I am sure most animals lovers would say a resounding yes, but scientists tend to want hard evidence.
On Monday I spent the day at a seminar with Professor Jaak Panksepp, in Oxford. A day full of information which is taking time to process.
Jaak Panksepp has done years of research into affective neuroscience – the science of emotions.
During this time he has discovered brain pathways that are involved in emotions. Using animal models to identify these pathways has led to discoveries that are useful in the field of human psychiatry.
The 7 basic emotional circuits are common to all mammals, human however have greater reasoning powers due to our large neocortex. So horses can’t plot our down fall (which may be a good thing given how some people treat them). Horses are ultimately animals that rely on instinct and reflexive behaviours.
Affects (emotions) produce comfort zones for animals, the core emotions are unconditioned and instinctual. SEEKING, FEAR and RAGE, followed by LUST and CARE as all animals need to reproduce. PANIC is separation distress and PLAY helps young animals learn – they can practice survival skills.
The feel good emotions are those of PLAY, CARE and LUST.
The emotions that feel bad are FEAR, RAGE, and PANIC.
The SEEKING circuit is active all the time and is involved in the animals survival, so seeking food, companionship, safety etc. It is about wanting things not just acquiring them, so the incentive (motivation) is as important as the reward.
PLAY is a big part of learning – children with ADHD benefit from play rough and tumble activities.
Horses play and need to be allowed to play with field companions, social isolation is often associated with displaced behaviours.
It was interesting that Jaak Panksepp said there was no initial difference between male and females play behaviour but that over time females played rough games less ( due to them being physically smaller and therefore often losing the game). This seems to happen in horses too – mature mares seem to play less than geldings of any age.
The use of aversive stimuli in animal training leads to the FEAR system being activated – as the animal looks to escape and avoid the aversive stimulus. If we do need to use aversive stimuli then we need to put in a safety signal – so the horse has a chance to avoid or escape the stimuli. Often horses will sigh deeply during training – it is a sigh of relief, when they finally learn to escape the aversive stimuli.
As animal trainers and carers the more we understand how emotions help or hinder behaviour, the more we can train empathetically and ethically.
We cannot separate behaviour from emotions.
This all linked in very well with the course by Jo Hughes “How Horses Learn ,Feel, and Communicate”
http://www.equi-libre.co.uk/academy-of-positive-horsemanship/
If anyone wants to learn more then this is a course I highly recommend.
References for Jaak Panksepp
The Archeology of Mind – http://metapsychology.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=book&id=6850
Video of Jaak Panksepp
Affective Neuroscience – http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3181986/
Positive Horsemanship. 