Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle Task
Body awareness allows animals to perceive their own body as a tool or even as obstacle when interacting with their environment. Body-as-an-obstacle tasks have been employed to test body awareness in human infants, elephants, and dogs. Investigating body awareness in a farm animal species for the fir...
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| Language: | English |
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Animal Behavior and Cognition
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Animal Behavior and Cognition |
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| Online Access: | https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/62/2%20Brosche_et_al_ABC_12(2).pdf |
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| author | Kimberly Brosche Jim McGetrick Jean-Loup Rault |
| author_facet | Kimberly Brosche Jim McGetrick Jean-Loup Rault |
| author_sort | Kimberly Brosche |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Body awareness allows animals to perceive their own body as a tool or even as obstacle when interacting with their environment. Body-as-an-obstacle tasks have been employed to test body awareness in human infants, elephants, and dogs. Investigating body awareness in a farm animal species for the first time, we tested young domestic pigs (Sus scrofus domesticus, N=17, 8 male and 9 female, 7 weeks old) in a modified body-as-an-obstacle task. Pigs learned to push a sliding panel with their snout to access food rewards. This was achievable from two different positions: left or right, corresponding to on or off a mat. In the test condition, the mat on which pigs were positioned was attached to the panel via a chain. If body-aware, pigs were expected, after unsuccessfully trying from the mat side, to step off the mat and push from the other side. Subjects stepped off the mat and solved 52% of the "attached" trials. Additionally, they were significantly quicker, and more likely, to push from the other side after stepping off in a newly introduced control condition, in which the panel was blocked for a reason unknown to the pig, did not differ significantly from that in the attached condition. Hence, similar to previously tesed species, pigs can flexibly adjust their behavior to solve a body-as-an-obstacle task. Importantly, our findings also highlight the necessity of determining whether animals simply switch statregies and, thereby, succeed in body-as-an-obstacle tasks whenever they cannot identify the reason for the obstruction, or whether their sccuess indeed constitutes evidence for body awareness. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b78d1dff571f4374a709c7c821854cc5 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2372-4323 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Animal Behavior and Cognition |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animal Behavior and Cognition |
| spelling | doaj-art-b78d1dff571f4374a709c7c821854cc52025-08-20T01:48:16ZengAnimal Behavior and CognitionAnimal Behavior and Cognition2372-43232025-05-0112217223410.26451/abc.12.02.02.2025Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle TaskKimberly Broschehttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2809-8591Jim McGetrickhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5468-934XJean-Loup Raulthttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-6015-8318Body awareness allows animals to perceive their own body as a tool or even as obstacle when interacting with their environment. Body-as-an-obstacle tasks have been employed to test body awareness in human infants, elephants, and dogs. Investigating body awareness in a farm animal species for the first time, we tested young domestic pigs (Sus scrofus domesticus, N=17, 8 male and 9 female, 7 weeks old) in a modified body-as-an-obstacle task. Pigs learned to push a sliding panel with their snout to access food rewards. This was achievable from two different positions: left or right, corresponding to on or off a mat. In the test condition, the mat on which pigs were positioned was attached to the panel via a chain. If body-aware, pigs were expected, after unsuccessfully trying from the mat side, to step off the mat and push from the other side. Subjects stepped off the mat and solved 52% of the "attached" trials. Additionally, they were significantly quicker, and more likely, to push from the other side after stepping off in a newly introduced control condition, in which the panel was blocked for a reason unknown to the pig, did not differ significantly from that in the attached condition. Hence, similar to previously tesed species, pigs can flexibly adjust their behavior to solve a body-as-an-obstacle task. Importantly, our findings also highlight the necessity of determining whether animals simply switch statregies and, thereby, succeed in body-as-an-obstacle tasks whenever they cannot identify the reason for the obstruction, or whether their sccuess indeed constitutes evidence for body awareness. https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/62/2%20Brosche_et_al_ABC_12(2).pdfself-awarenessbody awarenessbody-as-an-obstacle taskdomestic pigsus scrofa domesticus |
| spellingShingle | Kimberly Brosche Jim McGetrick Jean-Loup Rault Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle Task Animal Behavior and Cognition self-awareness body awareness body-as-an-obstacle task domestic pig sus scrofa domesticus |
| title | Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle Task |
| title_full | Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle Task |
| title_fullStr | Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle Task |
| title_full_unstemmed | Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle Task |
| title_short | Step Aside! Assessing Body Awareness In Pigs Using A Body-As-An-Obstacle Task |
| title_sort | step aside assessing body awareness in pigs using a body as an obstacle task |
| topic | self-awareness body awareness body-as-an-obstacle task domestic pig sus scrofa domesticus |
| url | https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/uploads/journals/62/2%20Brosche_et_al_ABC_12(2).pdf |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT kimberlybrosche stepasideassessingbodyawarenessinpigsusingabodyasanobstacletask AT jimmcgetrick stepasideassessingbodyawarenessinpigsusingabodyasanobstacletask AT jeanlouprault stepasideassessingbodyawarenessinpigsusingabodyasanobstacletask |