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Edward Choi
Professor Lynda Haas
Writing 39C
21 July 2015
HCP First Draft (Way too long)
+Inroduction
-Thesis:
+Generalizing Pigs with Regards to Domestication
-Behaviorally similar to wild boars because only selectively bred for meat (Held, Cooper, Mendl)
-Social behavior also reflect wild boars (Jensen)
-Domestication did not change environment much (Held, Cooper, Mendl; Jensen)
-Ontogeny and early experiences more important in determining behavioral tendencies (AlbiachSerrano, Brauer, Cacchione, Zickert, Amici)
-Conclusion: Behavioral difference between wild boars and domestic pigs are related more to
physical and social environment than selective breeding.
Object Discrimination
Object discrimination is the individuals ability to distinguish between items of two
identical categories. In human children, object and pattern discrimination is paralleled to their
ability to perceive and respond to present cues (Falk). As such, object discrimination becomes a
significant factor of displaying cognitive abilities, as non-response subjects would not react
successfully to popular cognitive experiments. Fortunately, many sus scrofa subjects generally
responded positively in displaying object discrimination.

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Over several years of research, pigs have successfully demonstrated sophisticated,

powerful object discrimination capabilities. In one experiment, Croney, Adams, Washington, and
Stricklin repetitively fed pigs off specific flower pots containing food to experiment for pigs
visual and olfactory discrimination. After this conditioning, pigs tested for visual cues found
choices between different colored flower pots, while pigs tested for olfactory cues distinguished
flower pots of food odors, with the pots locations being randomized during this test. The
experiment yielded successful trials for majority of its runs: pigs found the correct pot despite its
different location, solely based on its color or its odor. Testing for similar anticipations, Gifford,
Cloutier, and Newberry exposed domesticated pigs to distinct sample objects for ten minutes
and/or two days. The pigs were then re-exposed to both the objects themselves and other
opposite objects after delays from one hour long to 6 days long, predicting pigs to remember
two-day exposure samples longer than 10-minute exposure samples. Although the pigs did not
display any preference for 10-minute objects, the pigs displayed preference for the novel other
objects for two-day samples for up to 5 days. These experiments clearly indicate not only the
pigs ability to discriminate objects through visual and olfactory cues, but also their long-term
memory.
Time Perception
Perceiving the passage of time is undoubtedly a part of recognizing and/or anticipating
future circumstances. Without perception of time, formulating and experimenting with ideas
regarding past and future of self would not be possible. On the other hand, individuals with such
cognitive abilities, combined with chronological memory, can formulate self-perceived identities
representative of consciousness. Hence, animals have often been tested for such abilities, and
members sus scrofa species are no exceptions.

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Although pigs did not exhibit sophistication in their time perception, researchers
uncovered compelling evidences regarding pigs comprehension of time. To understand pigs
perception of time intervals, Spinka, Duncan, and Widowski organized two sets of crates with
contrasting visual patterns which the pigs must enter before feeding. Each set of crates were
associated with two different intervals of confinement, thirty minutes and two hours, after being
fed. After 16 days of testing, eight of the twelve subjects mostly chose the crates associated with
short confinement, indicating that these pigs not only learned the associations, but also
preferred to be released shortly after feeding. This result further indicates that pigs understand
the temporary nature of the confinements and that the span difference represents significant value
to the animals. Furthermore, pigs have also demonstrated positive and negative anticipations
through specific cues. In an experiment involving two different auditory tones, 16 domestic pigs
were conditioned to distinguish a tone that signaled to a room with a bowl of popcorn and a tone
that signaled to a dark ramp which triggers a pitfall response. When the pigs emotional
responses were measured for each tone, the experimenters found pigs turning away [from the
door], increase[ing] latency, and uttering high-frequency vocalizations for the negatively
associated tone, while no such responses were present for the positively associated tone (ImfeldMueller). Through these results, the pigs apparently demonstrate their ability anticipate different
events and to express this anticipation and its consecutive emotions.
Emotion
Contemporary researchers most often define emotion as a multifaceted phenomena
comprising behavioral, physiological, cognitive, and conscious components that becomes a key
component in memories and making decision. Individuals undergoing specific experiences are
adversely affected by emotions felt during the experience; conversely, becoming awareness of

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similar situations or others experiencing such situations can provoke an emotional response
within individuals (Mendl). This clear correlation between emotional memories and awareness of
personal situations can then be related to the aforementioned significance of anticipation in
forming self-identity. Hence, emotional responses become strong indicators of cognition and
ultimately self-consciousness, due to how key emotion is in enabling personality and empathy.
Despite this importance, considerations of behaviors as emotional responses are not always
agreed upon.
One strong candidate for an emotional response, however, is emotional contagion.
Emotion felt by an individual often influence the surrounding group, evoking similar responses
regardless of situational awareness among the other, naive individuals. Primatologist and
ethologist Frans B. M. de Waal identifies this phenomenon of emotional contagion as the first
step toward an empathetic response. Empathy is activated for other individuals of close or
positive relationship, while suppressed or even turned into Schadenfreude towards strangers
and defectors (de Waal). Therefore, animals capable of empathy must first be capable of
experiencing emotional contagion.
This phenomenon of emotional contagion within pigs is well-documented in Reimert,
Bolhuis, Kemp, and Rodenbergs recent research efforts. As an extension to their previous
research, they conducted an experiment where two of six pigs from each group were trained to
anticipate positive or negative outcomes (access to food or solitary confinement, respectively)
based on whether 12 repetitions of Bachs piano piece or 11 repetitions of a military march were
played. When the same auditory cues were presented after the two non-conditioned individuals
joined them, the researchers found the non-conditioned pigs responding in similar fashion to the
trained pigs, displaying both the positive expressions such as tail-wagging and the negative

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expressions such as directing ears backwards for the appropriate auditory cue. The researchers
further tested the effects of oxytocin, a substance known to play a role in bond formation,
social support, and trust (Reimert). During this phase, the experiment showed clear correlation
between degrees of emotional contagion and the presence of oxytocin, albeit being inconclusive
about how the correlation functions. Overall, most pigs participating in the experiment
demonstrated emotional contagion, as the highly accurate responses of the nave pigs strongly
indicate the presence of emotional contagion, and warrants a more focused research into their
empathetic capabilities.
Personality
Although the realm of personality is a resident topic of philosophical debates, scientific
communities agree upon personality to be described by a set of cognitive, emotional, and
behavioral characteristics or tendencies attributable to an individual over stable periods of time.
Such distinct behaviors among individuals are indicative of personal awareness and self-identity,
as personal identities often form from these special distinctions (Gosling). Hence, being able to
attribute personality to non-human animals has substantial value towards the argument for their
consciousness.
However, several historical disagreements regarding definitions and indications of
personality has since fragmented factors of personalities and has since been revisited by UC
Berkeley Researchers Samuel D. Gosling and Oliver P. John. After reviewing 19 different
studies, the two researchers compiled the Five-Factor Model of personality consisting of
extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism, open-mindedness and conscientiousness. Each of
these factors are exemplified by characteristics such as sociability, cooperation, strong emotional

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expressions, creativity, and deliberation, respectively. This research has since become a
foundation for defining personality for non-human animal academic research.
In the case of sus scrofa domesticus, members of the specie have demonstrated numerous
examples of variations within characteristics such as response types and temperament. In one
experiment including 110 piglets, each of the piglets were turned on its back and arrested for one
minute while counting the number of escape attempts, then the piglets were also tested for their
aggression by sending an intruder into its residence. This experiment intended to confirm a
correlation between the two procedures results, which would categorize pigs within a category
between the passive copers / active coper dichotomy. The results, however, yielded no such
correlation, and the researchers instead concluded their inability to generalize the piglets
behavior and identified three possible personality traits, or individual tendencies which
remained consistent during the test: aggressiveness, sociability, and exploration (Forkman). As
noted by Gosling and John, these traits relate to the human dimensions of agreeableness,
extraversion, and openness, two of which have displayed strongest cross-species generality.
-Different levels of aggression measured among females in competitive feeding environment
(Ruiz)
Social Behaviors
+positive correlation between high-level cognitive capacities and social complexity;
discrimination among individuals are key to special relationships, hierarchies, and trust
-Pigs discriminate among individuals using sensory cues (McLeman)
-Pigs can also differentiate among different humans using visual, auditory cues; olfactory are not
as effective (Tanida, Nagano).

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-Recognizing different perspective is indicative of empathy, as well as the distinction between

peers awareness
-Pigs manipulate each other during social foraging situations; a pig followed an informed pig to
find food faster, and those exploited responded by increasing speed to run from the unknowing
pig (Held, Mendl, Devereux, Bryne); *known as tactical deception (from Times Article)
+Conclusion
*Due to lack of space, I am considering the removal of either the beginning explanation of
domestication process or the social behaviors sections; however, I may manage to abridge my
other paragraphs in the future to include these content