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Human facial discrimination in horses: can they tell us apart?

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Abstract

The human–horse relationship has a long evolutionary history. Horses continue to play a pivotal role in the lives of humans and it is common for humans to think their horses recognize them by face. If a horse can distinguish his/her human companion from other humans, then evolution has supplied the horse with a very adaptive cognitive ability. The current study used operant conditioning trials to examine whether horses could discriminate photographed human faces and transfer this facial recognition ability a novel setting. The results indicated the horses (a) learned to discriminate photographs of the unrelated individuals, fraternal twins, and identical twins and (b) demonstrated transfer of facial recognition by spending more time with their S+ woman in the field test.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks the student workers and research assistants for their dedicated work on these projects. Special thanks go to Rachel Clay and Jessica Clay for their assistance. In addition, this research would not have been possible without Ahna Hoff, Nikki Yonts, Brooke and Brittany Morgan, and Laura and Christy Land and their valuable contribution is greatly appreciated. The author also thanks the reviewers for the detailed suggestions and comments which improved the readability of this paper.

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  1. Oklahoma State University, 700 N. Greenwood, Tulsa, OK, 74106, USA

    Sherril M. Stone

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  1. Sherril M. Stone
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Correspondence to Sherril M. Stone.

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Stone, S.M. Human facial discrimination in horses: can they tell us apart?. Anim Cogn 13, 51–61 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-009-0244-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-009-0244-x

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