Professor Kristina Horback is an animal-cognition expert with the Department of Animal Science at the University of California-Davis. She is building on her pioneering research that examines the role personality plays in the welfare and sustainable production of farm animals, like cattle, sheep and swine. Her work is driven by new legislative and marketplace demands to raise pigs in group housing rather than in individual crates.
Source: Pork Network, June 21, 2017.
In addition to measuring personality traits, Horback will soon start testing piglets for “cognitive bias,” or mood, to see if certain personality traits correlate with “positive affected states,” or optimism. In previous research, Horback has seen evidence of a link between aggressive personalities and a positive mood.