WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Researchers have long been intrigued by the cognitive and visual capabilities of horses, which are known to be a highly social species.
A study by the Universities of Sussex and Portsmouth, published in the journal, Current Biology, reveals that horses not only have the ability to read human facial expressions but they can also recollect a person's previous emotional state when they meet them soon thereafter.
As part of the research, domestic horses were shown a photograph of an angry or cheerful human face, and later that day were presented the same person in the flesh, but in an emotionally neutral state.
The investigation revealed that despite the humans being in a neutral state throughout the live meeting, the horses perceived a person negatively if that person was looking angry in the photograph they had been shown earlier.
So, how did the researchers know that the horses perceived a person negatively?
Well, it's all from the horses' gaze direction, as studies have shown that animals view negative events, say angry human faces, with the left eye. It is the right brain hemisphere that is specialized for processing threatening stimuli (information from the left eye is processed in the right hemisphere).
Although it is an established fact that horses can recognize human facial expressions, this is the first time that it has been shown that they can recall emotional experiences with specific individuals.
The research was conducted by a team of psychologists, co-led by Professor Karen McComb from the University of Sussex and Dr Leanne Proops, from the University of Portsmouth - both specialists in animal behavior.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX