Pigs are more attentive when addressed by humans

People often convey their intentions to communicate directly, for example by calling the person they are talking to by name or by making eye contact. This form of communication is also used in interaction with animals, especially pets. “And indeed, companion animal species such as dogs, cats and horses are more attentive and learn more effectively when they are addressed by humans in a direct manner,” explains Kimberly Brosche, first author of the study from the Messerli Research Institute for Human-Animal Interaction at Vetmeduni.       

Under scrutiny: commercial pigs, research pigs and companion  pigs

However, it was previously unclear whether domesticated animal species that are not bred as pets, such as pigs, react in a similar way. The researchers therefore investigated whether domestic pigs, which are primarily kept for agricultural purposes, react to this so-called human ostension (the direct “addressing”) with increased attentiveness and higher success in following human cues and whether experience with humans ehances this effect. For this purpose, 54 pigs with different levels of experience with humans – commercial pigs, free-ranging pigs kept for behavioral research and companion pigs – completed ostensive and non-ostensive versions of three different tasks. “The companion pigs are part of a long-term research project and live with human families, similar to domestic dogs,” Paula Pérez Fraga and Attila Andics, co-authors from the Ethology Department of the Eötvös Loránd University of Budapest, describe the situation of the most socialized group of pigs. “The research pigs, on the other hand, have been trained from birth and have participated in numerous behavioral studies. They are therefore very accustomed to interacting with humans but spend their 'free time' among conspecifics in the pasture,” adds Marianne Wondrak, co-author from the Clever Pig Lab Gut Aiderbichl.

Pigs respond to humans, but not by performing better

The researchers expected that pigs would respond to human ostension with increased attentiveness and improved performance. They also predicted that if sensitivity to ostension increases with experience with humans, then pigs that are more intensively socialized with humans should be more attentive and better at the tasks than less socialized pigs. Indeed, the results indicate “that the pigs responded more attentively to ostensive than to non-ostensive human demonstrations in a task in which a human showed them the way around an obstacle. Other than that, however, ostension had no influence on their attentiveness or task performance,” explains study co-author Ariane Veit from the Messerli Research Institute.

Training experience improves attention and cognitive performance

According to the researchers, this indicates that pigs process information ostensively provided by humans differently than companion animals species such as dogs or horses, even if their attentiveness is also increased by ostension. “Furthermore, we found that living conditions and experience, such as training, generally seem to enhance attentiveness and performance in pigs independently of ostension. These results highlight the influence of training experience and possibly welfare on the problem-solving abilities of pigs,” says study last author Zsófia Virányi, who also works at the Messerli Research Institute.

 

The article „Human ostension enhances attentiveness but not performance in domestic pigs“ by Kimberly Brosche, Ariane Veit, Paula Pérez Fraga, Marianne Wondrak, Attila Andics and Zsófia Virányi was published in „Scientific Reports“.


Scientific article