Time to load up some popular games: new research indicates pigs have the mental capability to play video games. The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, tested the ability of four pigs (Hamlet, Omelette, Ebony and Ivory) to play a simple joystick (操纵杆) game with their noses, moving a cursor (光标) to four targets on the screen. Although the animals didn’t show the skills to win a round any time, they did show an understanding of some simple games. Performing well not by chance, the pigs appeared to recognize that the movement of the cursor was controlled by the joystick. The fact that they did so well although they didn’t have flexible fingers is “extraordinary”, according to the researchers.

That pigs can do this should give us pause about what else they are capable of learning and how such learning may influence them,” said Purdue University’s Dr Candace Croney, the study’s lead author.

Researchers also noted that while the pigs could be taught to play the game using food as positive motivation, they also responded well to social interaction. In fact, when the game was made more challenging and the pigs became unwilling to participate in it, “only encouraging words from the experimenter” would make the pigs continue their training.

These findings are the latest to highlight the intelligence and learning abilities of pigs. Not only have they been shown to use mirrors to find hidden food, but studies have also shown how pigs can be taught to “come” and “sit” after oral commands.

As with any sentient (有感觉力的) beings, how we interact with pigs and what we do to them influences and matters to them. We therefore have a duty to further understand how pigs get information and what they are capable of learning and remembering, because this may help them understand their interactions with us and their environments.

Some pigs tend to be optimistic while others are pessimistic, according to a new research that is meaningful to animal welfare. The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, is the first to show that mood and personality interact in an animal, influencing judgment.

Asher, a researcher at the University of Newcastle's Institute of Neuroscience, and her team housed groups of pigs in two types of environment. One reflected standard commercial conditions and the other was cushier with more space and plenty of soft, deep straw. After the pigs got accustomed to these new homes over a few weeks, the researchers picked 18 pigs from each type to train and test their judgment.

“To do this, we trained each pig. In one corner of a training room there would be a bowl with chocolate sweets — pigs love them — and at the opposite side of the room there would be a bowl containing coffee beans, which pigs find bitter­tasting,” a researcher said.

Over a number of training trials, pigs learned to go to the bowl reliably when it was in the corner where they had figured out to expect chocolate sweets. On the contrary, they quickly learned to avoid the bowl when it was in the corner where they would expect to find the coffee beans.

The researchers next placed an unfamiliar bowl in different locations, to see how the pigs would react. Some gaily dashed to the bowl no matter what was inside, showing optimism that it would contain their favorite sweets. Others, however, behaved as though they expected it to contain coffee beans, displaying pessimism.

The findings suggest that a one­size­fits­all answer to animal welfare issues does not exist. Even if pigs are just equal to bacon or other meat for some people, there is still cause for concern. Studies have suggested that how an animal is treated during its lifetime can directly affect meat quality and taste.