Pigs in flow – towards a new dimension of positive animal welfare

There is ample evidence that cognitive enrichment enhances behavioural and physiological aspects of welfare across animals, including pigs. However, no empirical data on flow, a specific form of cognitive engagement, exist in animals. Flow is a state of complete absorption in an intrinsically rewarding activity, e.g. studied in humans during rock climbing and challenging cognitive (computer) tasks, with the extent of flow being influenced by personality. Therefore, flow is a cornerstone of the study of positive well-being in humans. So far, flow has only been described in humans, but we have recently published a conceptual paper pinpointing the benefits of studying flow in animals to advance the emerging field of positive welfare. We believe that pigs are the ideal species to study flow as they are highly curious and cognitively well developed and have distinct personalities. Since pigs are usually kept in stimulus-poor conditions, they would benefit enormously from cognitive enrichment. The proposed study is the first aiming to 1) develop and test different approaches to induce flow and 2) apply the most promising approach to investigate flow in pigs by studying their resistance to distraction (ResToDis). It thus paves the ground for new alleys of implementing cognitive enrichment in pigs on-farm, thereby contributing to the enhancement of pig welfare. To develop the task, we will first pilot different approaches. The most promising task design will be used for the experiment, where we will work with 24 pigs diverging in flexibility and routine-proneness (assessed in a backtest) for 16 weeks. ResToDis will be assessed using distractors of different intensities (e.g. noise, food reward) applied in a systematic way. During the task, pigs’ behaviour will be video recorded, sympathetic and parasympathetic reactions will be assessed by an ECG monitor and by thermal imaging, a promising novel non-invasive indicator of changes in autonomous nervous system activity.