Abstract
Individual animals vary in their behaviour and reactions to novel situations. These differences may extend to differences in cognition among individuals. We tested twenty-six horses for their ability to detour around symmetric and asymmetric obstacles. All of the animals were able to get around the barrier to reach a food target, but varied in their approach. Some horses moved slowly but were more accurate in choosing the shortest way. Other horses acted quickly, consistently detoured in the same direction, and did not reliably choose the shortest way. The remaining horses shifted from a faster, directionally consistent response with the symmetric barrier, to a slower but more accurate response with the asymmetric barrier. The asymmetric barrier induced a reduction in heart rate variability, suggesting that this is a more demanding task. The different approaches used to solve the asymmetric task may reflect distinct cognitive styles in horses, which vary among individuals, and could be linked to different personality traits. Understanding equine behaviour and cognition can inform horse welfare and management.
Highlights
Intraspecific variation in behaviour is ubiquitous among animals[1,2]
We evaluated which factors could explain the variation in the latency to reward, SDNN and RMSSD via a generalized linear mixed-model (GLMM) analysis
Regarding the time the horses spent to successfully navigate the detour and reach the reward on the opposite side, we found two competing models of the GLMM analysis that cannot be discarded due to their ΔAICc less than 2, while a third model had its ΔAICc above 2 (Table 2)
Summary
Intraspecific variation in behaviour is ubiquitous among animals[1,2]. Individuals that are proactive[3], bolder, more aggressive, and faster exploring[4] can potentially gather rewards more rapidly[5]. Shy, unaggressive, slow exploring[4] and reactive animals[3] might be safer, but collect fewer rewards, at least in the short-term[5] This variation in behaviour may affect the response to cognitive challenges at the individual level[6,7]. Cognitive challenges, including spatial problems, may induce a physiological reaction as a consequence of emotional arousal[19] These responses may be related to the behavioural characteristics of the individual[3]. In a previous paper designed to test for lateralization and detour ability in horses, we found that some individuals tend to behave more cautiously, while others made quick decisions at the expense of accuracy[24] Based on this prior work, we hypothesize that horses use different strategies to solve spatial tasks reflecting different cognitive styles
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