Cows visually discriminate and cross-modally recognise familiar and unfamiliar human faces in videos
Abstract
Social recognition has been studied and demonstrated in many species. In domesticated species, the long evolutionary history shared with humans has led to investigations into their cognitive abilities towards humans, particularly regarding discrimination and recognition of humans. The present study investigated whether cows are capable of visual discrimination and cross-modal recognition of familiar and unfamiliar humans. Thirty-two cows were exposed to two tests: a visual preference test, during which two silent videos were shown simultaneously - each displaying either a familiar or an unfamiliar human face - and a cross-modal test, during which the videos were accompanied by either a congruent or incongruent voice. During the visual preference test, cows looked significantly longer at the video showing the unfamiliar person (p = 0.028). In the cross-modal test, they looked significantly longer at the video that was congruent with the voice being played (p = 0.014). These two results show that cows are able to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals and form cross-modal representations of these people. Based on these results, future research should explore whether cows can adjust their behaviour depending on the person they are interacting with - a capacity that may reflect their agency in human-animal relationships.
Related
- Horseshoe Bats Recognise the Sex of Conspecifics from Their Echolocation Calls
- Zoo housed meerkats do not recognise human emotions
- Unfamiliar conspecifics increase freezing and shift movement towards immobility in zebrafish, most clearly in males
- Enhanced cortical tracking of unfamiliar languages in both monolinguals and bilinguals
- What drives versus what is required: Sufficient and necessary conditions for consumer intention in an unfamiliar wellness service
BibTeX
@article{amichaud2026cows,
title = {{Cows visually discriminate and cross-modally recognise familiar and unfamiliar human faces in videos}},
author = {Océane Amichaud and Julie Lemarchand and Fabien Cornilleau and Plotine Jardat and Vitor Ferreira and Ludovic Calandreau and Léa Lansade},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
year = {2026},
month = may,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0329529},
url = {https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05789729v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Cows visually discriminate and cross-modally recognise familiar and unfamiliar human faces in videos
AU - Océane Amichaud
AU - Julie Lemarchand
AU - Fabien Cornilleau
AU - Plotine Jardat
AU - Vitor Ferreira
AU - Ludovic Calandreau
AU - Léa Lansade
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/05/20
JO - PLoS ONE
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0329529
UR - https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05789729v1
AB - Social recognition has been studied and demonstrated in many species. In domesticated species, the long evolutionary history shared with humans has led to investigations into their cognitive abilities towards humans, particularly regarding discrimination and recognition of humans. The present study investigated whether cows are capable of visual discrimination and cross-modal recognition of familiar and unfamiliar humans. Thirty-two cows were exposed to two tests: a visual preference test, during which two silent videos were shown simultaneously - each displaying either a familiar or an unfamiliar human face - and a cross-modal test, during which the videos were accompanied by either a congruent or incongruent voice. During the visual preference test, cows looked significantly longer at the video showing the unfamiliar person (p = 0.028). In the cross-modal test, they looked significantly longer at the video that was congruent with the voice being played (p = 0.014). These two results show that cows are able to discriminate between familiar and unfamiliar individuals and form cross-modal representations of these people. Based on these results, future research should explore whether cows can adjust their behaviour depending on the person they are interacting with - a capacity that may reflect their agency in human-animal relationships.
SN - 1932-6203
SN - 1932-6203
ER -