| Abstrakt: |
Interpreting equine behavior is a key component of assessing equine well-being. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a circumplex heat map model of valence (V) (the relative "goodness" or "badness" of an emotion) and arousal (A) for interpretation of equine affective states as well as compare perceptions of students which differ in horse handling experience. An online questionnaire administered via Qualtrics was distributed to undergraduate students in an equine class at Oklahoma State University. Student demographics, horse handling experience, and frequency of horse interaction were collected. Students had not received equine specific behavior training before completion of the survey. Students (n = 49) were grouped based on self-reported frequency of horse contact (more than weekly or less than weekly), and self-reported horse experience on a 100 point scale, with 0 representing no experience and 100 extremely experienced. Images of 18 horses displaying various affective states were provided. After viewing each image, the participant placed a dot on a graphical representation of V and A according to their perceived impression of the affective state. A heat map generated by Qualtrics indicates the density of all responses and provides coordinates for each individual response. The incidence of quadrant selection (positive V/negative V; high A/low A) was identified and compared foreach image by experience groups, as well as the x (V) and y (A) coordinates. Data was analyzed using ANOVA in SPSS for V and A, and Chi-squared and Pearson correlation for quadrant data. Of the 49 students that reported, 53% reported as high frequency handlers (n = 26), and 47% (n = 23) reported handling horses less than weekly. When grouped by self-reported experience (>50 or ≤50), 40.8% students rated themselves as less than 50 in handling experience compared with 59.2% as greater than 50. High frequency handlers differed from low frequency handlers in their assessment of valence in 6 of 18 images (P < 0.05), compared with only one image of the 18 which differed in interpretation of state of arousal. When reported by level of horse handling experience, 5 images differed in assessment of V by means analysis (P < 0.05). Chi-squared analysis which represented differences in quadrant selection differed for only 3 images (P < 0.05). Students differed in their interpretation of V in 33% of the images, while differing once in interpretation of state of A (P < 0.05). Assessing affective state as positive or negative is critical to equine well-being. Utilizing the heat map function of Qualtrics represents a new methodology for assessment of affective state of horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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