The emotional valence hypothesis suggests an increased left-brain hemisphere activation during positive situations and vice versa during negative situations. Since facial thermal asymmetries may reflect lateralised brain activity, we investigated this in dairy calves subjected to hot-iron disbudding (Disbudded; n = 12) as a model of negative affective states. As affective responses can vary due to previous experiences, we examined whether calves that had (ExpObs; n = 12) and had not (InexObs; n = 12) experienced disbudding differed in their thermal response to a conspecific being disbudded, and whether calf response to the researcher (approaching, moving away, not moving) was associated with thermal asymmetries. We made thermographic recordings of each calf on three days: Day before disbudding (D1); Disbudding day (D2); and Day after disbudding (D3), and at two different times: Disbudding time/1400(T1) and Afternoon/1700(T2). Data were analysed using multilevel models. Calves had warmer left ears on D2 compared to higher temperatures on the right ear on D1, suggesting higher right-hemisphere activity on D2. ExpObs calves had higher left-eye temperatures when observing a conspecific being disbudded (D2×T1) than InexObs calves that had warmer right eyes, but this reversed on the following day (D3×T1). Calves avoiding the researcher had warmer left eyes whereas those approaching him had warmer right eyes, suggesting greater activation of the right hemisphere in the former. This study provides initial evidence of temperature asymmetries when observing or experiencing a negative event. Further work is required to confirm and build upon these early findings. The study highlights the potential for future development of methods using infrared thermography as a proxy measure of affective valence.

Although cats’ popularity as pets rivals that of dogs, cats are little studied, and people's abilities to read this apparently ‘inscrutable’ species have attracted negligible research. To determine whether people can identify feline emotions from cats’ faces, participants (n = 6,329) each viewed 20 video clips of cats in carefully operationalised positively (n =10) or negatively valenced states (n = 10) (cross-factored with low and high activity levels). Obvious cues (eg open mouths or fully retracted ears) were eliminated. Participants’ average scores were low (11.85/20 correct), but overall above chance; furthermore, 13% of participants were individually significantly successful at identifying the valence of cats’ states (scoring ≥ 15/20 correct). Women were more successful at this task than men, and younger participants more successful than older, as were participants with professional feline (eg veterinary) experience. In contrast, personal contact with cats (eg pet-owning) had little effect. Cats in positive states were most likely to be correctly identified, particularly if active rather than inactive. People can thus infer cats’ affective states from subtle aspects of their facial expressions (although most find this challenging); and some individuals are very good at doing so. Understanding where such abilities come from, and precisely how cats’ expressions change with affective state, could potentially help pet owners, animal care staff and veterinarians optimise feline care and welfare.

Animal welfare science is a burgeoning field, but research on cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) is lacking. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are the most well-known and studied cetaceans, particularly in captivity, and thus are used in this review as a model for other cetacean species. Despite the public interest and need for such research, studies specifically investigating dolphin welfare are lacking. This review uses the three broad categories of behaviour, health, and cognition, to discuss how dolphin welfare has been assessed thus far, and could be assessed in future. We present welfare indicators validated in other species that could be applied to dolphins, including innovative measures, such as cognitive appraisal of emotions. We provide a summary of practical recommendations for validating the indicators of bottlenose dolphin welfare. This paper aims to stimulate further research into dolphin welfare which could improve the lives of the animals themselves and ultimately support regulatory decisions. We recommend uniting expertise in cetology and welfare science in order to develop a holistic approach to dolphin welfare assessment.

Many captive Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) in Thailand participate in the tourism industry at attractions known as ‘elephant camps.’ There has been significant criticism of low welfare venues, where the elephants may experience injuries, poor nutrition, unnatural social environments and aversive handling. Despite increasing concern for animal welfare, the general public often have difficulty identifying the welfare issues affecting captive animals. The aim of this study was to investigate participants’ willingness to support an elephant attraction and their perceived emotional value from the experience, based on the affective state of the captive elephant and their level of contact with it. Participants (n = 590) from the United States were randomly assigned to one of four vignettes (using a 2 × 2 experimental design) that described an elephant attraction, varying the affective state of the elephant (feels excellent, feels terrible) and the level of contact they could have with the elephant (low, high). A mixed methods approach was used, where participants provided answers to Likert-type questions, followed by an open-ended response. Participants showed greater willingness to support the elephant attraction and greater perceived emotional value from the experience when the elephant felt excellent, as opposed to when the elephant felt terrible. There were no significant differences between low and high contact for the measures included in this study. Qualitative responses varied greatly, with participants making many assumptions about the elephant and the attraction, revealing potential misconceptions that they had regarding the welfare of captive elephants. This research may be used to encourage a shift in tourism preferences to venues that reflect positive elephant welfare.

This paper proposes a task-related electroencephalogram research framework (tEEG framework) to guide scholars’ research on EEG-based cognitive and affective studies in the context of design. The proposed tEEG framework aims to investigate design activities with loosely controlled experiments and decompose a complex design process into multiple primitive cognitive activities, corresponding to which different research hypotheses on basic design activities can be effectively formulated and tested. Thereafter, existing EEG techniques and methods can be applied to analyse EEG signals related to design. Three application examples are presented at the end of this paper to demonstrate how the proposed framework can be applied to analyse design activities. The tEEG framework is presented to guide EEG-based cognitive and affective studies in the context of design. Existing methods and models are summarized, for the effective application of the tEEG framework, from the current literature spread in a wide spectrum of resources and fields.

The current study examines the immediate and short-term impact of daily exposure to community violence on same-day and next-day levels of posttraumatic stress symptomatology and various affective states (i.e., dysphoria, hostility, and anxiety), in a sample of 268 African American adolescents living in urban, low-income, high-violence neighborhoods (Mage = 11.65; 59% female). In addition, the moderating role of affective state variability on this relationship was examined. This study utilized experience sampling method and a daily sampling approach, which contributes a more robust investigation of the short-term effects of violence exposure in youth. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that community violence exposure was positively associated with same-day and next-day symptoms of posttraumatic stress. Violence exposure also exhibited an immediate effect on dysphoria, anxiety, and hostility levels. Youth variability in dysphoria exacerbated the effect of violence exposure on concurrent or next-day posttraumatic stress, dysphoria, and hostility. Moreover, variability in anxiety and hostility exacerbated the experience of next-day hostility. The clinical implications relating to these findings, such as the importance of implementing screening for posttraumatic stress following exposure, the incorporation of preventative treatments among those at risk of exposure, and the targeting of emotion regulation in treatments with adolescents, are discussed.