Goats appear to be able to distinguish emotion in the human voice – 02/04/2024 – Science

The highly vocal goats appear to be able to distinguish emotion in the human voice, according to a study published last Tuesday (30), in the journal Animal Behavior.

The scientists responsible for the research state that it is already known that companion animals, that is, pets, can identify human emotional signals in several different ways, such as, for example, through voice.

As for herd animals, that is, those raised as a source of resources for humanity, to provide milk or meat, for example, there is less information.

The researchers state that, precisely due to the proximity to humans associated with products, a weaker selection could be expected to discriminate and respond to our signals, contrary to what is seen in companion and working animals.

Even so, capabilities of this type have been documented, even at levels comparable to companion animals, in animals commonly used by humanity, such as pigs.

Therefore, scientists tried to test the potential of goats to identify emotion in the human voice, especially variations between nervousness and joy.

To find out, the researchers basically played reproductions of the human voice expressing a positive (happy) or negative (angry) valence. Sessions lasting a few minutes were carried out with 27 goats, a process that took place over several days.

It was noticed that, after being repeatedly exposed to a human voice representing the same “feeling”, the goats, according to scientists, demonstrated habituation, basically caring and reacting less to the voice — such as looking less at the sound source.

The study authors also say that, after this period of habituation to the voice, the goats were less likely to look at the sound source. Even after a change was made to the “feeling” represented, the goats were less likely to look, demonstrating habituation.

But at the same time, those looking at the sound source did so for longer, “suggesting that these goats perceived the change in the emotional content of the voice reproductions.”

According to the scientists, however, this attention paid to changing the valence of the voice did not translate into physiological changes, such as in the goats’ heart rate.

“In summary, here we present the first evidence that goats can discriminate between cues expressed in the human voice, i.e., emotional valence. These findings contribute to the limited available literature indicating that farmed animals, as well as pets, are sensitive to human emotional cues,” the study authors write.