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From operant learning to cognitive enrichment in farm animal housing: bases and applicability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2023

G Manteuffel ,
J Langbein  and
B Puppe
G Manteuffel*
Affiliation:
Research Institute for the Biology of Farm Animals (FBN), Unit Behavioural Physiology, Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 2, 18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
J Langbein
Affiliation:
Research Institute for the Biology of Farm Animals (FBN), Unit Behavioural Physiology, Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 2, 18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
B Puppe
Affiliation:
Research Institute for the Biology of Farm Animals (FBN), Unit Behavioural Physiology, Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 2, 18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
*
* Contact for correspondence and requests for reprints: manteuff@fbn-dummerstorf.de
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Abstract

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This study has its basis in recent findings by our own and other laboratories and proposes a type of rewarded operant learning that seeks the detection of discriminatory cues as a cognitive enrichment in intensive husbandry systems. This type of cognitive enrichment has the ability to activate the intrinsically-rewarding mesolimbic brain axis when an animal acquires successful strategies to cope with environmental demands. It provides animals with the opportunity to develop positive affects through control of their environment and the anticipation of consummatory reward. If true animal welfare is considered more than simply the absence of stress and harm, provoking better affective conditions may be a suitable way of increasing the well-being of intensively-housed animals. Recent research with elaborated operant learning equipment, under experimental and quasi-commercial conditions, revealed better health, reduced boredom and less maladaptive behaviour as potentially practical advantages. A number of the issues regarding the transfer of this suggested form of cognitive enrichment to large scale, commercial farming are discussed.

Keywords

animal welfarecognitionfarm animalslearningmotivationreward
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Welfare , Volume 18 , Issue 1 , February 2009 , pp. 87 - 95
Copyright
© 2009 Universities Federation for Animal Welfare

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