ArticleScientific reports2021
Exploratory behaviour towards novel objects is associated with enhanced learning in young horses.
Article in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 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
- Behavioral changes in thoroughbred horses following pre-training: insights from novel object tests and activity monitoring under field conditions.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2026Article
- The effects of a plant-based and a plant- and marine-based n-3 oil supplement on behavioral reactivity, heart rate variability, and plasma fatty acid profile in young healthy horses.Journal of animal science · 2025Article
- The Effects of Enrichment on Zoo-Housed Scarlet Ibis Behavior.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Two plants improve stress response of a subterranean herbivore by downregulating amphetamine addiction pathways.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2023Article
- Garrano Horses Perceive Letters of the Alphabet on a Touchscreen System: A Pilot Study.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Curiosity in zebrafish (Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Personality traits affect learning performance in dwarf goats (Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Dairy cows did not rely on social learning mechanisms when solving a spatial detour task.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Evaluating the Reaction to a Complex Rotated Object in the American Quarter Horse (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Horses' (Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying individual variation in learning are key to understanding the development of cognitive abilities. In humans and primates, curiosity has been suggested as an important intrinsic factor that enhances learning, whereas in domesticated species research has primarily identified factors with a negative effect on cognitive abilities, such as stress and fearfulness. This study presents the first evidence of a link between object-directed curiosity and learning performance in young horses in two very different learning tasks (visual discrimination and pressure-release). We exposed young horses (n = 44) to standardised novel object tests at 5 months and 1 year of age and found consistency in responses. Standard indicators of fearfulness (e.g. heart rate and alertness) were unrelated to learning performance, whereas exploratory behaviour towards the novel objects correlated to performance in both learning tasks. Exploratory behaviour was unreinforced in the novel object tests and likely reflects the animal's intrinsic motivation (i.e. curiosity), suggesting that this trait is favourable for learning performance. In addition to the insights that these results provide into cognition in a domesticated species, they also raise questions in relation to fostering of curiosity in animals and the impact that such manipulation may have on cognitive abilities.
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