German Research Foundation (DFG) Fellow - Walter-Benjamin-Programme: Project number: 464508359

Research interest

Charlottes Goursot’s main interest is to identify the individual emotional needs of our farm animals in order to implement individualized welfare into farm animal husbandry. For this, studying behavioural laterality (i.e. asymmetries of behaviour, where each brain hemisphere controls the contralateral part of the body) represents a promising approach. On the one hand, her previous work shows that pigs with different motor side preferences (and therefore with different brain organizations) differ in their personality. On the other hand, she showed that the eye with which pigs perceive a positive stimulus influences their emotional response to that stimulus. A next step is to combine research on personality, emotions and laterality. Charlotte Goursot aims at starting research on "affective styles" in farm animals and at developing new methods for promoting individualized welfare. Her work at the Vetmeduni Vienna was focusing on investigating the neural origins of personality in pigs and their links with laterality, using a multi-approach methodology combining behaviour and brain imaging (MRI).

Research expertise

Laterality

Personality

Affective states

Curriculum Vitae

Since 2021: DFG Postdoctoral fellow, Institute of Animal Welfare Science, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna (Austria)

2020-2021: Research assistant, Institute of Behavioural Physiology, FBN Dummerstorf (Germany)

2020: Doctor in Ethology (Dr. agr.), Universisty of Rostock (Germany)

2014-2019: PhD student at the Institute of Behavioural Physiology, FBN Dummerstorf (Germany)

2014: Doctor in Veterinary Medicine (DVM), University Paris 12 (France)

2012-2013: Master (M.Sc.) in Ecophysiology & Ethology, University of Strasbourg (France) and Master Internship at the Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna & Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna (Austria)

2008-2013: Veterinary Study Diploma, National Alfort Veterinary School (France)

Publications

ResearchGate

GoogleScholar

ORCID

Selected publications

Goursot, C., Düpjan, S., Puppe, B., & Leliveld, L. M. (2021). Affective styles and emotional lateralization: A promising framework for animal welfare research. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 237, 105279. doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105279

Goursot, C., Düpjan, S., Tuchscherer, A., Puppe, B., & Leliveld, L. M. (2019). Visual laterality in pigs: Monocular viewing influences emotional reactions in pigs. Animal Behaviour, 154, 183-192. doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2019.06.021

Goursot, C., Düpjan, S., Kanitz, E., Tuchscherer, A., Puppe, B., & Leliveld, L. M. (2019). Assessing animal individuality: links between personality and laterality in pigs. Current zoology, 65(5), 541-551. doi:10.1093/cz/zoy071

Goursot, C., Düpjan, S., Tuchscherer, A., Puppe, B., & Leliveld, L. M. (2018). Behavioural lateralization in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa)—variations between motor functions and individuals. Laterality: Asymmetries of Body, Brain and Cognition, 23(5), 576-598. doi:10.1080/1357650X.2017.1410555