Emotion Reading Horses

Horses recognise human emotions, a recent research has found.

18:12 11 February 2016

A recent study conducted by scientists from the University of Sussex found that domestic horses are able to distinguish between happy and angry human facial expressions.

 

During the experiment, the horses were shown photographs of male human faces where the former responded negatively to angry expressions.

 

In the study published in the journal Biology Letters, researcher Amy Smith explained: "One person presents the photo while another holds the horse,"

 

"The main result was that they looked [at angry faces] with their left eye."

 

"The right hemisphere is specialised for processing negative stimuli. It's really about the partition of energy - not using the whole brain."

 

During the experiment, the horses were fitted with heart monitors. When showed with angry faces, their heart rates increased significantly.

"It also shows this extra ability of horses," said Miss Smith. "[It shows that] our behaviour around them has an impact."