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Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana said they were able to train four pigs to perform a “joystick-operated video game task” to obtain treats.
The pigs’ success rate in the task was described by the researchers as “remarkable and indicative of their behavioral and cognitive flexibility”.
The animals – a pair of two-year-old Panepinto micro-pigs and two three-month-old Yorkshire pigs – were trained to manipulate a joystick in order to control a cursor on a computer screen, researchers said in a study published Thursday . .
This slider could be used to hit three targets – of varying difficulty – on the screen. When the target was hit, an automatic pellet dispenser released the food.
Prior to the experiment, scientists at the university’s Center for Animal Welfare Science trained the pigs until they learned the behavior, using voice commands, simulated joysticks, and manually dispensed treats.
The animals had to approach a computer, which had “walls” – or thick blue digital lines – scattered around the screen.
They then had to select one of the “walls” with the cursor to get a treat. As the accuracy of the pigs improved, the number of “walls” was reduced to two, then to one, becoming more difficult.
Panepinto pigs, Ebony and Ivory both performed well – 84% success rate – when presented with tri-wall targets.
But a skill gap emerged between the two pigs as the number of targets decreased, with Ivory being able to hit targets to a wall 76% of the time, compared to 34% for Ebony.
Meanwhile, Yorkshire pigs Hamlet and Omelet managed to accomplish the task ‘above the odds’ when shown with two walls or a single wall on screen, but not when shown with three. walls.
The researchers determined that “above chance” was beyond what the pigs might have expected, at random.
The pigs spent between three and four months participating in the experiment.
‘Impressive learning abilities’
The authors of the article, Candace C. Croney, professor of animal behavior and welfare and director of the university’s Center for Animal Welfare Science, and Sarah T. Boysen, senior researcher at the university, said that experience suggested that the animals had an understanding of the task.
“Acquiring the video task required a conceptual understanding of the task, as well as skilled motor performance,” they said in the article.
Speaking to CNN, Croney said she hoped the document would inspire further research into the cognitive abilities of pigs.
“It would be nice if people realized how unique pigs are and how mentally more sophisticated they can be than we previously thought,” she says.
She hoped the research would help people understand how to better “enrich” the lives of animals.
Commenting on the importance of the results, Christian Nawroth, who was not involved in the study and is a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology in Germany, said the article demonstrated “the capabilities impressive learning experiences of pigs ”.
“We already know that pigs are good problem solvers, but the ability to use a joystick to navigate a cursor on a screen is certainly something that hasn’t been on the farm animal list until. now, “he told CNN, adding that the task for the pigs was” not easy to solve. ”
“We always underestimate the intelligence of pigs and farm animals in general. As this line of research, farm animal cognition, takes off, we will likely see more research on more sophisticated learning and cognitive skills in farm animals in the next few years, “he added.
The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology.
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