Assessing cognitive performance in dairy calves using a modified hole-board test.


Journal

Animal cognition
ISSN: 1435-9456
Titre abrégé: Anim Cogn
Pays: Germany
ID NLM: 9814573

Informations de publication

Date de publication:
Oct 2022
Historique:
received: 18 09 2021
accepted: 16 03 2022
revised: 09 03 2022
pubmed: 30 3 2022
medline: 2 11 2022
entrez: 29 3 2022
Statut: ppublish

Résumé

The hole-board test has been used to assess working and reference memory in a variety of species, but not in cattle. We developed and applied a modified hole-board test for dairy calves. Fifteen bottles were evenly spaced along three walls of a test arena; 11 of these were empty and 4 were 'baited' with milk. Calves were exposed daily (over an 11-day learning period) to the test arena with the location of the baited bottles held constant; the location of the 4 baited bottles was then changed and calves were re-trained on these new locations (over a 7-day re-learning period). Working memory (no. of revisits to the baited set), general working memory (no. of revisits to the whole set), and reference memory (avoidance of non-baited bottles) were assessed daily. Performance significantly improved during the learning period for reference and general working memory. Working memory tended to improve, albeit non-significantly. The change in bottle location initially reduced all performance measures, but these subsequently improved during the 7-day re-learning period. These results indicate that a modified hole-board test can be used to assess calf cognition, and thus may be helpful in future research designed to investigate the effects of housing and rearing conditions on cognition.

Identifiants

pubmed: 35347498
doi: 10.1007/s10071-022-01617-5
pii: 10.1007/s10071-022-01617-5
doi:

Types de publication

Journal Article

Langues

eng

Sous-ensembles de citation

IM

Pagination

1365-1370

Subventions

Organisme : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
ID : RGPIN-2016-04620
Organisme : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
ID : RGPIN-2021-02848

Informations de copyright

© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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Auteurs

Benjamin Lecorps (B)

Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z6, Canada.
Bristol Veterinary School, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS40 5DU, UK.

Raphaela E Woodroffe (RE)

Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z6, Canada.

Marina A G von Keyserlingk (MAG)

Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z6, Canada.

Daniel M Weary (DM)

Animal Welfare Program, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, The University of British Columbia, 2357 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z6, Canada. danweary@mail.ubc.ca.

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