Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens

Abstract Pessimistic judgment biases, whereby humans or non-human animals interpret ambiguous information negatively, are hypothesised to be one of the suite of adaptive changes that comprise the vertebrate stress response. To test this hypothesis, we asked whether experimentally elevating levels of...

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Autores principales:	Oluwaseun S. Iyasere, Andrew P. Beard, Jonathan H. Guy, Melissa Bateson
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/951409aafdb644b88c3ff7b1b0d815fe
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:951409aafdb644b88c3ff7b1b0d815fe2021-12-02T11:41:10ZElevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens10.1038/s41598-017-07040-y2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/951409aafdb644b88c3ff7b1b0d815fe2017-07-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-07040-yhttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Pessimistic judgment biases, whereby humans or non-human animals interpret ambiguous information negatively, are hypothesised to be one of the suite of adaptive changes that comprise the vertebrate stress response. To test this hypothesis, we asked whether experimentally elevating levels of the glucocorticoid stress hormone, corticosterone, in broiler chickens produced a pessimistic judgment bias. We trained young chickens to discriminate a stimulus (paper cone) placed at two locations in an arena, one associated with reward (mealworms) and one with punishment (air puff). During seven days of non-invasive administration of either corticosterone or vehicle control, we tested the birds’ responses to the cone placed at ambiguous locations between the trained locations. Corticosterone-treated birds were more likely than controls to respond as if punishment was likely when the cone was placed near to the punished location. The degree of this ‘pessimism’ was associated with smaller relative spleen weight, which is a documented consequence of chronic stress in chickens. We conclude that changes in corticosterone levels in chickens are sufficient to cause a specific change in decision making, dubbed ‘pessimism’, whereby corticosterone-treated birds showed an increased expectation of punishment in the face of ambiguous information. Pessimism could be a useful welfare indicator in chickens.Oluwaseun S. IyasereAndrew P. BeardJonathan H. GuyMelissa BatesonNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Oluwaseun S. Iyasere Andrew P. Beard Jonathan H. Guy Melissa Bateson Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens
description	Abstract Pessimistic judgment biases, whereby humans or non-human animals interpret ambiguous information negatively, are hypothesised to be one of the suite of adaptive changes that comprise the vertebrate stress response. To test this hypothesis, we asked whether experimentally elevating levels of the glucocorticoid stress hormone, corticosterone, in broiler chickens produced a pessimistic judgment bias. We trained young chickens to discriminate a stimulus (paper cone) placed at two locations in an arena, one associated with reward (mealworms) and one with punishment (air puff). During seven days of non-invasive administration of either corticosterone or vehicle control, we tested the birds’ responses to the cone placed at ambiguous locations between the trained locations. Corticosterone-treated birds were more likely than controls to respond as if punishment was likely when the cone was placed near to the punished location. The degree of this ‘pessimism’ was associated with smaller relative spleen weight, which is a documented consequence of chronic stress in chickens. We conclude that changes in corticosterone levels in chickens are sufficient to cause a specific change in decision making, dubbed ‘pessimism’, whereby corticosterone-treated birds showed an increased expectation of punishment in the face of ambiguous information. Pessimism could be a useful welfare indicator in chickens.
format	article
author	Oluwaseun S. Iyasere Andrew P. Beard Jonathan H. Guy Melissa Bateson
author_facet	Oluwaseun S. Iyasere Andrew P. Beard Jonathan H. Guy Melissa Bateson
author_sort	Oluwaseun S. Iyasere
title	Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens
title_short	Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens
title_full	Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens
title_fullStr	Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens
title_full_unstemmed	Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens
title_sort	elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/951409aafdb644b88c3ff7b1b0d815fe
work_keys_str_mv	AT oluwaseunsiyasere elevatedlevelsofthestresshormonecorticosteronecausepessimisticjudgmentbiasinbroilerchickens AT andrewpbeard elevatedlevelsofthestresshormonecorticosteronecausepessimisticjudgmentbiasinbroilerchickens AT jonathanhguy elevatedlevelsofthestresshormonecorticosteronecausepessimisticjudgmentbiasinbroilerchickens AT melissabateson elevatedlevelsofthestresshormonecorticosteronecausepessimisticjudgmentbiasinbroilerchickens
_version_	1718395473744625664

Elevated levels of the stress hormone, corticosterone, cause ‘pessimistic’ judgment bias in broiler chickens

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