Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol
Abstract Animals are widely believed to sense human emotions through smell. Chemoreception is the most primitive and ubiquitous sense, and brain regions responsible for processing smells are among the oldest structures in mammalian evolution. Thus, chemosignals might be involved in interspecies comm...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30119-8 |
| _version_ | 1797865145026740224 |
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| author | Plotine Jardat Alexandra Destrez Fabrice Damon Zoé Menard--Peroy Céline Parias Philippe Barrière Matthieu Keller Ludovic Calandreau Léa Lansade |
| author_facet | Plotine Jardat Alexandra Destrez Fabrice Damon Zoé Menard--Peroy Céline Parias Philippe Barrière Matthieu Keller Ludovic Calandreau Léa Lansade |
| author_sort | Plotine Jardat |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Animals are widely believed to sense human emotions through smell. Chemoreception is the most primitive and ubiquitous sense, and brain regions responsible for processing smells are among the oldest structures in mammalian evolution. Thus, chemosignals might be involved in interspecies communication. The communication of emotions is essential for social interactions, but very few studies have clearly shown that animals can sense human emotions through smell. We used a habituation-discrimination protocol to test whether horses can discriminate between human odors produced while feeling fear vs. joy. Horses were presented with sweat odors of humans who reported feeling fear or joy while watching a horror movie or a comedy, respectively. A first odor was presented twice in successive trials (habituation), and then, the same odor and a novel odor were presented simultaneously (discrimination). The two odors were from the same human in the fear or joy condition; the experimenter and the observer were blinded to the condition. Horses sniffed the novel odor longer than the repeated odor, indicating they discriminated between human odors produced in fear and joy contexts. Moreover, differences in habituation speed and asymmetric nostril use according to odor suggest differences in the emotional processing of the two odors. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:03:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-bc7f538ec2b241d79850567f3639507f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T23:03:12Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-bc7f538ec2b241d79850567f3639507f2023-03-22T10:52:01ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-02-0113111110.1038/s41598-023-30119-8Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocolPlotine Jardat0Alexandra Destrez1Fabrice Damon2Zoé Menard--Peroy3Céline Parias4Philippe Barrière5Matthieu Keller6Ludovic Calandreau7Léa Lansade8CNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRCDevelopmental Ethology and Cognitive Psychology Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, Institut Agro Dijon, CNRS, Université de Bourgogne-Franche-ComtéDevelopment of Olfactory Communication and Cognition Laboratory, Centre des Sciences du Goût et de l’Alimentation, Institut Agro Dijon, CNRS, Université de Bourgogne-Franche-ComtéCNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRCCNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRCUEPAO, INRAECNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRCCNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRCCNRS, IFCE, INRAE, Université de Tours, PRCAbstract Animals are widely believed to sense human emotions through smell. Chemoreception is the most primitive and ubiquitous sense, and brain regions responsible for processing smells are among the oldest structures in mammalian evolution. Thus, chemosignals might be involved in interspecies communication. The communication of emotions is essential for social interactions, but very few studies have clearly shown that animals can sense human emotions through smell. We used a habituation-discrimination protocol to test whether horses can discriminate between human odors produced while feeling fear vs. joy. Horses were presented with sweat odors of humans who reported feeling fear or joy while watching a horror movie or a comedy, respectively. A first odor was presented twice in successive trials (habituation), and then, the same odor and a novel odor were presented simultaneously (discrimination). The two odors were from the same human in the fear or joy condition; the experimenter and the observer were blinded to the condition. Horses sniffed the novel odor longer than the repeated odor, indicating they discriminated between human odors produced in fear and joy contexts. Moreover, differences in habituation speed and asymmetric nostril use according to odor suggest differences in the emotional processing of the two odors.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30119-8 |
| spellingShingle | Plotine Jardat Alexandra Destrez Fabrice Damon Zoé Menard--Peroy Céline Parias Philippe Barrière Matthieu Keller Ludovic Calandreau Léa Lansade Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol Scientific Reports |
| title | Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol |
| title_full | Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol |
| title_fullStr | Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol |
| title_full_unstemmed | Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol |
| title_short | Horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation-discrimination protocol |
| title_sort | horses discriminate human body odors between fear and joy contexts in a habituation discrimination protocol |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-30119-8 |
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