Everyone knows pigs are smart, but this takes smart to a new level. Two three-month-old Yorkshire pigs and a pair of two-year-old Panepinto micro pigs learned how to manipulate a joystick in order to control a cursor on a computer monitor, Purdue University researchers said in a study published on Feb. 11.
Researchers said they were able to train four pigs to carry out a joystick-operated video game task to get treats. According to a CNN article, the pigs’ success rate in the task was described by researchers as “remarkable, and indicative of their behavioral and cognitive flexibility.”
The cursor could be used to hit three targets of varying difficulty on the screen, the article said. When the target was hit, an automatic pellet dispenser released the feed.
Ahead of the experiment, the scientists from the university’s Center for Animal Welfare Science trained the pigs until they learned the behavior, using voice commands, mock joysticks and manually dispensed treats.
The animals were taught to approach a computer, which had “walls” -- or thick blue digital lines -- scattered around the screen. Next, they had to select one of the “walls” with the cursor to get a treat. As the pigs’ accuracy improved, CNN reports the number of “walls” reduced to two, and then to one, becoming more difficult.
The Panepinto pigs named Ivory and Ebony performed at an 84% success rate when presented with three-wall targets. But a skill gap appeared between the two pigs as the number of targets reduced, with Ivory hitting one-wall targets 76% of the time, versus Ebony’s 34%.
The Yorkshire pigs, Hamlet and Omelet, completed the task “above chance” when presented with two walls or a single wall on screen, but not when presented with three walls. According to the article, researchers described “above chance” as over and above what targets the pigs could have been expected to get right, at random.
The pigs spent between three and four months taking part in the experiment that required conceptual understanding of the task and skilled motor performance.
The pigs demonstrated an intelligent understanding of the task, reports the paper’s authors, Candace C. Croney, professor of animal behavior and well-being and director at the university’s Center for Animal Welfare Science, and Sarah T. Boysen, a senior researcher.
Croney told CNN she hoped the paper would inspire further research into the cognitive abilities of pigs.
The results were published in Frontiers in Psychology.
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