Joanne Edgar
Papers
1
Total Citations
17
H-Index
1
About
Joanne Edgar’s research sits at the intersection of animal behaviour, cognition, and welfare, with a particular focus on the emotional lives of farm animals. Her work has been instrumental in advancing how we scientifically measure affective states—such as pleasure, fear, and frustration—in non-human animals, especially chickens. In her highly cited 2018 study, “Examining affective structure in chickens: valence, intensity, persistence and generalization measured using a Conditioned Place Preference Test,” Edgar demonstrated that chickens can form learned preferences or aversions to locations associated with specific experiences, revealing a nuanced emotional architecture. This work, which has garnered 17 citations, provides a rigorous, behaviour-based framework for assessing not just whether an animal finds something positive or negative, but how strongly and for how long. By adapting the Conditioned Place Preference paradigm—traditionally used in rodent neuroscience—to poultry, Edgar opened new avenues for understanding animal welfare from the animal’s perspective. Her contributions are foundational for researchers aiming to improve housing, handling, and husbandry practices, ensuring that scientific assessments of well-being are grounded in the animals’ own experiences.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
- 1