ArticleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI2019
Horses Categorize Human Emotions Cross-Modally Based on Facial Expression and Non-Verbal Vocalizations.
Article in Animals : an open access journal from MDPI, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A systematic review on the effect of individual characteristics and management practices on equine cognition.Animal cognition · 2025Pooled it
- Cows react to human emotions displayed in videos and use this information to guide subsequent interaction choices.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Cows visually discriminate and cross-modally recognise familiar and unfamiliar human faces in videos.PloS one · 2026Article
- Article
- Behaviour of ewes and lambs in response to human emotional odours.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Chronic State and Relationship to Humans Influence How Horses Decode Emotions in Human Voices: A Brain and Behavior Study.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Equine therapy in the management of teenagers with anorexia nervosa: a qualitative study.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2025Article
- Evolutionary Trajectories of Consciousness: From Biological Foundations to Technological Horizons.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Social Isolation of Horses vs. Support Provided by a Human.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Emotional contagion of fear and joy from humans to horses using a combination of facial and vocal cues.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Behavioral and physiological indicators of stress in horses during an equine-assisted learning program for youth with a history of trauma.Translational animal science · 2025Article
- Spontaneous eye blinks in horses (Equus caballus) are modulated by attention.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Forced Handling Decreases Emotionality but Does Not Improve Young Horses' Responses toward Humans and their Adaptability to Stress.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- A Relaxed Horse-A Relaxed Client? An Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Therapy Horses' Stress on Clients' Stress, Mood, and Anxiety.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Living the good life? A systematic review of behavioural signs of affective state in the domestic horse (Animal welfare (South Mimms, England) · 2024Article
- Pony feeding management: the role of morphology and hay feeding methods on intake rate, ingestive behaviors and mouth shaping.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2024Article
- Horses discriminate between human facial and vocal expressions of sadness and joy.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- Do you see what I see? Testing horses' ability to recognise real-life objects from 2D computer projections.Animal cognition · 2023Article
- Multimodal Communication in the Human-Cat Relationship: A Pilot Study.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Horses cross-modally recognize women and men.Scientific reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Over the last few years, an increasing number of studies have aimed to gain more insight into the field of animal emotions. In particular, it is of interest to determine whether animals can cross-modally categorize the emotions of others. For domestic animals that share a close relationship with humans, we might wonder whether this cross-modal recognition of emotions extends to humans, as well. In this study, we tested whether horses could recognize human emotions and attribute the emotional valence of visual (facial expression) and vocal (non-verbal vocalization) stimuli to the same perceptual category. Two animated pictures of different facial expressions (anger and joy) were simultaneously presented to the horses, while a speaker played an emotional human non-verbal vocalization matching one of the two facial expressions. Horses looked at the picture that was incongruent with the vocalization more, probably because they were intrigued by the paradoxical combination. Moreover, horses reacted in accordance with the valence of the vocalization, both behaviorally and physiologically (heart rate). These results show that horses can cross-modally recognize human emotions and react emotionally to the emotional states of humans, assessed by non-verbal vocalizations.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.