Measuring Boredom & Frustration

Question 1

Why is boredom and frustration important?

Answer 1

Both emotions have been overlooked
However they can both be persistent welfare issues for animals in captivity because:
Captive environments may not be complex enough compared to the wild
Certain specific stimuli may be lacking
Animals might not be able to perform all the behaviours that they could in the wild

Question 2

Why has boredom and frustration been ignored?

Answer 2

Boredom and frustration have been partly ignored in the face of more well researched welfare issues like stress, fear or pain
However when boredom and frustration are really persistent and inescapable they can be very distressing for the animals and they can really affect brain development

Question 3

What is boredom and frustration caused by?

Answer 3

Boredom and frustration are related to the thwarting of emotions
Boredom and frustration are emotions that might occur when animals cannot satisfy particular motivation

Question 4

Define motivation

Answer 4

Motivation = a brain state that determines the likelihood and intensity of a given behavioural pattern, and the efforts animals will make in order to perform it

Question 5

How is motivation relevant for welfare?

Answer 5

Motivations are relevant to welfare because motivations often have negative and positive emotional components to them

However some motivations are not technically accompanied by emotions
An example of this is the motivation to eat is often accompanied by hunger and then satiation, which are usually considered homeostatic sensations rather than emotions

Question 6

What 2 characteristics do boredom and frustration share?

Answer 6

1) Both are caused when animals are missing something they want/need
2) Both prompt some similar behaviours like:
Escape behaviours
Repeated seeking behaviours
Abnormal behaviour
Abnormal behaviours develop when frustration or boredom are prolonged

Question 7

How can you distinguish boredom and frustration from each other?

Answer 7

Distinguishing boredom and frustration matters because the solutions differ
A frustrated animal needs something very specific to satisfy it
A bored animal needs almost anything different from what it has, as long as it engages it and gives the animal something to do

Question 8

What is frustration?

Answer 8

Frustration is the unpleasant emotion or sensation arising from an inability to satisfy a specific motivation

Question 9

What are normal behaviours triggered by?

Answer 9

Normal behaviour is often triggered by both innate and learned motivations

Question 10

What are innate motivations and why do they cause frustration?

Answer 10

Innate motivations are genetically programmed drives or desires
The innate motivations are especially persistent even in captivity
Due to this, innate motivations cause the most troublesome welfare issues because the animal can’t adapt

Question 11

True or false

Learnt motivations don’t cause frustration

Answer 11

False

Learnt motivations can also cause frustration

Question 12

What causes frustration?

Answer 12

Frustration occurs when animals are thwarted from satisfying a particular motivation

Question 13

What are the 4 signs of frustration?

Answer 13

1) Repeated ‘attempts’ to satisfy the motivation
2) Displacement behaviour
3) Redirected behaviour
4) Heightened arousal

Question 14

What happens in the first sign of frustration, repeated ‘attempts’ to satisfy the motivation?

Answer 14

Often this includes appetitive (search) behaviours
Behaviour can be split into 2 categories:
Appetitive behaviours
These are behaviour sequences that are geared to getting a goal
Consummatory behaviours
These are behaviours when you have the goal and actually work with it
So with frustration the goal is never reached so the appetitive phase is repeated endlessly

It can also be triggered by learnt behaviours

Question 15

What is the second sign of frustration, displacement behaviour, about?

Answer 15

Displacement behaviour are simple normal behaviours that are inappropriate or irrelevant to the situation
Displacement behaviours are almost like a sort of distraction from the situation and the animal doesn’t know what else to do so they do something else

Question 16

What is the third sign of frustration, redirected behaviour, about?

Answer 16

Redirected behaviours are normal behaviours directed towards an inappropriate target

Question 17

Which 3 signs of frustration can become stereotyped and repeated to an abnormal degree becoming abnormal behaviour?

Answer 17

1) Repeated ‘attempts’ to satisfy the motivation
2) Displacement behaviour
3) Redirected behaviour

Question 18

True or false

Arousal is usually heightened when frustrated

Answer 18

True

It’s one of the 4 signs of frustration

Question 19

What causes frustration in animals?

Answer 19

It is very specific to which motivation is frustrated

Sometimes the animals needs/wants a particular resource or goal that it cannot obtain
This may occur when the consummatory phase (end goal) is impossible

Sometimes the animal needs/wants to perform a particular behaviour that it cannot perform
This may occur when the appetitive (search) phase of a behaviour is impossible

Question 20

What is known as behavioural needs?

Answer 20

Sometimes the animal needs/wants to perform a particular behaviour that it cannot perform
This may occur when the appetitive (search) phase of a behaviour is impossible

Question 21

What is boredom?

Answer 21

Boredom is an unusual type of frustration
It could be seen as a kind of frustration where the motivation that’s being thwarted is actually for almost anything other than what’s currently available or possible
Because of this boredom has properties that differ from other frustrations

Question 22

Define boredom

Answer 22

Boredom is an unpleasant emotion caused by sub-optimal arousal

Question 23

What 3 things make up boredom?

Answer 23

1) Aversion to monotony
2) Sub-optimal arousal levels
3) A sense of time ‘dragging’

Question 24

What are the 8 potential indicators of aversion to monotony?

Answer 24

1) Preference test
2) Conditioned place preference or Pavlovian conditioning
3) Cognitive bias/Judgement bias
4) Escape behaviour
5) Sensation-seeking behaviour and distractibility
6) Restlessness
7) Psychoactive drug consumption
8) Polyphagia/polydipsia

Question 25

What are the 8 potential indicators of suboptimal arousal?

Answer 25

1) Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal activity
2) Sympathetic-Adrenomedullary activity
3) Awake inactivity
4) EEG activity
5) Respiratory patterns
6) Eye blink rate
7) Reduced muscle tone
8) Advanced onset of sleep

Question 26

What is meant by time dragging?

Answer 26

Time dragging means the internal clock runs faster than external time, meaning external time feels relatively slow

Question 27

Give 2 examples of time perception paradigms that can be used to measure time dragging

Answer 27

Peak interval tasks

Temporal bisection tasks

Question 28

What happens in peak interval tasks experiments?

Answer 28

This is where you train an animal that it will get a reward after a set amount of time has passed
What you’d predict is that the animal will start feeling restless after the time has passed
However if the animal is in a boring environment it will become restless earlier than the set time period

Question 29

What is happens in a temporal bisection tasks experiment?

Answer 29

This is a kind of discrimination task
An example is training an animal that a red key gives them a reward if they hear a short beep but the green key gives them a reward after a long tone
You’d then play them intermediate tones
If they’re in a more boring environment they will press the green key

Question 30

True or false

Measuring time dragging has not been studied yet in the context of animal boredom or human boredom

Answer 30

True

Question 31

True or false

Most research has been done on human boredom but only in the social sciences

Answer 31

True

Question 32

We know from human questionnaire studies and epidemiological studies that chronic boredom is associated with what 2 things?

Answer 32

1) Sensation-seeking behaviours

2) Low arousal moods and consequences

Question 33

True or false

Cognitive deficit and low-self esteem are things we can’t test in animals

Answer 33

True

Question 34

Some people question the existence of animal boredom and suggest that it is an anthropomorphic topic
However, there is increasing research showing that animals behave in a way that’s consistent with boredom
How do animals behave in a way that’s consistent with boredom?

Answer 34

Animals often show aversion to monotony