Chronic State and Relationship to Humans Influence How Horses Decode Emotions in Human Voices: A Brain and Behavior Study.

ABSTRACT: Current research on acoustic encoding of emotional content suggests that there are universal cues, allowing for decoding within and across taxa. This is particularly important for human-animal relationships, wherein domestic animals are supposed to be particularly efficient in decoding human emotions. Here we investigated whether the decoding of the emotional content in human voices shared universal acoustic properties, or whether it could be influenced by experience. Emotional human voices were presented to two populations of horses, in which behavioral, cardiac, and brain responses were measured. The two populations differed in their living and working conditions: one population lived in naturalistic conditions (stable social groups in pastures) and were ridden occasionally for outdoor t

SUBMITTER: d'Ingeo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12610170 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature