AUTHOR=Croney Candace C. , Boysen Sarah T. 

TITLE=Acquisition of a Joystick-Operated Video Task by Pigs (Sus scrofa)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631755

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631755

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=The ability of 2 Panepinto micro pigs and 2 Yorkshire pigs (Sus scrofa) to acquire a joystick-operated video-game task was investigated.  Subjects were trained to manipulate a joystick that controlled movement of a cursor displayed on a computer monitor.  The pigs were required to move the cursor to make contact with 3-, 2-, or 1-walled targets randomly allocated for position on the monitor, and a reward was provided if the cursor collided with a target.   The video-task acquisition involved conceptual understanding of the task, as well as skilled motor performance.  Terminal performance revealed that all pigs were significantly above chance on first attempts to contact 1-walled targets (P < 0.05).  These results indicate that, despite dexterity and visual constraints, pigs have the capacity to acquire a joystick-operated video-game task.  Similar methodology may prove useful in future studies of the cognitive capacities of pigs and other domestic animals.