Assessing equine prospective memory in a Y-maze apparatus.

Full Abstract

Eight horses were tested in a Y-maze to see if they would approach the side on which they had seen and heard food being delivered into a food trough. The horses were tested in five experimental contexts: immediate release (IR), delayed release 3s (3DR), 6s (6DR), 9s (9DR) and 12s (12DR) after food delivery. Individual subjects performed five IR trials, followed by five each of 3DR, 6DR, 9DR and 12DR trials. A re-rest was performed 1 week later. Data were analysed by log-linear analysis of frequencies. The results showed that the horses were capable of achieving the correct choice during IR trials, were successful during the DR trials and improved marginally during the re-test. The findings suggest that horses could have a trainable form of prospective memory and benefit from incremental memory-training exercises. However, there is a risk of overestimating equine cognitive ability and unnecessary reinforcement delays are likely to lead to welfare and training setbacks within equitation.

Author information

Author/s: Murphy, Jack (J);

Affiliation: School of Agriculture, Food Science and Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. Jack.Murphy(-atsign-)ucd.ie

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Veterinary journal (London, England : 1997) (Vet J), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 181 (issue 1) : pp 24-8

Dates: Created 2009/05/11; Completed 2009/06/15;

PMID: 19398355, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 6/15/2009, IMS Date: 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00)

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