Pigs playing video games expand our concepts of animal intelligence

The four pigs have come to win. If they played the game well, they would get some delicious dog food (they used to have M & Ms, but the humans decided these were too sweet). Time and time again when researchers are asked to complete a video game task – guiding a cursor with a joystick, sort of rudimentary Pong– they did it with impressive skill.

The researchers started putting pigs on computerized tasks in the late 1990s, and although the findings received occasional media coverage over the years, no peer-reviewed research on the experiences has been published until today, with a paper in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. The scientists found that despite the dextral and visual constraints of the animals, the pigs were able to both understand and perform singles goals computer game.

“What they were able to do was be way above the odds of achieving those goals,” said Candace Croney, director of the Center for Animal Welfare Science at Purdue University and lead author of the article. , during a phone call. “And well above the odds, it’s very clear that they had some conceptual understanding of what they were being asked to do.”

The published research is the long-awaited fruit of over two decades of work that began when Croney was at Purdue University, working with prolific pig researcher Stanley Curtis. The project followed the efforts of two Yorkshire pigs, Hamlet and Omelette, and two Panepinto micro-pigs, Ebony and Ivory, as they attempted to move a cursor to a lighted area of ​​the computer screen.

“They beg to play video games,” Curtis Told the PA in 1997. “They beg to be the first to get out of their enclosure, then they go up the ramp to play.”

It was an uphill battle for the pigs. Joysticks were equipped for testing with primates, so hoof pigs had to use their snouts and mouths to do the job. All four pigs were found to be farsighted, so the screens needed to be placed at an optimal distance for the pigs to see the targets. There were additional limitations on Yorkshire pigs. Raised to grow quickly, the heaviest pigs couldn’t stand for too long.

“While there may have been physical limitations to the way the pigs could see the screen or manipulate the joystick, they clearly understood the connection between their own behavior, the joystick and what was happening on the screen. Lori Marino, a neuroscientist unaffiliated with the current journal, said in an email. Marino, who leads the Whale Sanctuary project, has long studied cognition, intelligence and self-awareness in mammals, including pigs. “It’s really a testament to their cognitive flexibility and resourcefulness that they were able to find ways to manipulate the joystick despite the fact that the test setup was often difficult for them to physically engage.”

“What makes these results even more important is that the pigs in this study demonstrated autonomy,” added Marino, “which is the ability to recognize that one’s own actions make a difference.

Pigs have learned a number of commands to make their lives, as well as those of researchers, easier. They were taught similar directions to what you teach a dog – to sit, come, wait away from their pen when they need to be cleaned – as well as to pick up their toys when video game work is done. .

“At a certain point, they were getting really good at getting their toys and not so good at cleaning up after them,” Croney said. “I was pretty much becoming a pig keeper, sorting out. So we started teaching them to put things back together.

Once the research was completed, the Yorkshire pigs were adopted by the owners of a guest rooms, where they lived their farm life. Ebony and Ivory finally retired to a petting zoo. Croney said that even years after the experiences, she went to visit Hamlet, who heard his voice and “galloped” across the pasture to say hello.

Pigs may not have the skillful fingers of a primate or the dismal gaze of a puppy, but, cognitively, they are firmly in competition. Winston Churchill once said, “Dogs look at you, cats look down on you. Give me a pig! He looks you in the eye and treats you like an equal. It is high time we gave pigs the respect they deserve.