Projects
Positive Cognition: Integrating Cognitive Science and AI to Study Farm Animal Brain Activity during Positive Interactions with Humans.
Understanding farm animal cognition is key to improving welfare, safety, and human-animal relationships. The Positive Cognition project integrates cognitive science and AI to study farm animals' brain activity during positive interactions with humans. The focus is on dairy cows and riding school horses, who have differing interactions with humans, and are often involved in severe accidents. Farm animals' brain lateralization, where the left and right hemispheres process stimuli differently, is a key factor in how animals perceive and respond to humans. Most previous research on brain lateralization in farm animals has focused on aversive stimuli, neglecting positive interactions. This project addresses that gap by examining brain lateralization during positive human interactions, such as grooming and training.
I will employ a multidisciplinary approach, combining electroencephalogram technology, heart rate monitoring, advanced computer vision techniques with behavioural analyses to assess brain activity and attention during these interactions. The project aims to deepen understanding of animal emotions and cognition, setting a new standard for animal welfare research. The insights gained will inform better practices for handling and training animals ultimately improving efficiency and safety of both animals and handlers.
To conduct this project, I am joining Assoc. Prof. Rørvang's team at the Department of Biosystems and Technology, Alnarp campus, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. The team is composed of leading experts in farm animal cognition and the application of AI in agriculture.
Emotions and Infrared Thermal Imaging
Measuring immediate emotional state in animals can be a challenging task. Behavioral observations may lack precision, while hormonal sampling through saliva and blood are invasive methods. Additionally, equipping animals with heart rate sensors is not always feasible. However, with the emergence of new technologies, infrared thermal measurement of body parts has shown promise as an efficient tool for assessing immediate responses to stimuli.
The advantages of using an infrared thermal camera are its portability, wireless functionality, and noninvasive nature, as it does not require direct contact with the animals. Previous studies conducted on humans and other primates have demonstrated that emotional stimuli lead to a drop in nose temperature. This measurement could be used as an indicator of arousal in animals. However, in many mammals, the nasal area is covered with fur, making it impossible to assess its temperature using infrared thermal imaging. As an alternative, the temperature of the medial canthus, the hairless area in the eye corner, can be measured.
Although there have been limited studies on measuring medial canthus temperature in ungulates, some of the existing research primarily focuses on temperature changes before and after a stressor, rather than during the event itself. Consequently, these studies fail to provide a comprehensive representation of temperature variations during stimulating events. I aim to investigate the variation in ungulates' medial canthus temperature throughout the entire duration of events with both negative and positive valence and throughout different intensity of arousal. The objective is to understand how eye temperature varies according to different situations and the intensity of the animals' responses. I will also explore potential correlations between eye temperature, heart rate, behavioral responses and facial expressions of the animals. This project aim to provide a validation of the eye temperature measurement methodology, which is currently lacking in the core literature. Moreover, it aims to promote the use of infrared thermal measurement as an accessible and noninvasive tool for assessing emotional changes in ungulates and collecting welfare-related data. The use of thermal imaging has real interesting potential applications to assess the welfare of farm animals.
I am currently looking for funding and potential collaborators/host lab to continue my investigations.
Horse owner psychology and horse living environment
The domestication of horses around 2000 B.C. laid the foundation for equestrian culture, with horses transitioning from working animals to athletes and companions. Today, an estimated 59 million domestic horses live worldwide, mostly for leisure and sport. Beyond their practical role, horses often become emotionally significant to their owners, who may develop strong attachments to them. The way humans form and maintain bonds is shaped by their attachment style—secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant, or fearful-avoidant—which is closely linked to personality traits. These psychological factors not only influence interpersonal relationships but also extend to how people interact with and care for their animals.
For horse owners, attachment styles and personality traits can directly shape their decisions about training and housing. Owners with higher levels of neuroticism, for instance, may feel more protective and prefer to keep horses indoors to avoid injury, whereas other traits may encourage more freedom and social housing. Since owners are ultimately responsible for horses’ daily environments, their psychological profiles play a decisive role in determining whether horses have access to pastures, social groups, or are kept in restrictive conditions. These decisions matter: research shows that horses living in groups and on pastures are more active, learn better, and show fewer aggressive behaviours towards humans than those kept in isolation, where welfare problems are more common.
To explore these dynamics, an online survey, launched in June 2023 in Finnish, French, and English, collected data on horse housing, owner personality (using the Big Five model: extraversion, agreeableness, openness, conscientiousness, neuroticism), and attachment style to their horse (Using an adapted version of the Pet Attachment Questionnaire). The survey attracted more than 2,300 responses world wide.
The data will be analysed to uncover correlations between owners’ psychological traits, their housing choices, and reported horse behaviours. For example, attachment-avoidance scores will shed light on how securely or insecurely bonded owners feel with their horses, which may influence decisions about providing social contact, turnout, or confinement. By linking human psychology to equine management, this project aims to reveal how owners’ inner worlds shape their animals’ lived experiences. The results will not only broaden understanding of human–animal relationships but also highlight pathways to improving horse welfare through greater awareness of the psychological factors driving owner decision-making.
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