Publications

Recent selected publications from the Animal Behaviour & Welfare Group:

  1. Gonzalez, C., Lawrence, A.B., Mendl, M., Robinson, E., Bombail, V., Brown, S.M., 2026. Sex differences in the enjoyment of enrichment: affective bias testing confirms female rats prefer more playful and less vigorous tickling. Biol. Lett. 22, 20260075. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2026.0075
  2. Bombail, V., Brown, S. M., Beyts, C., Martin, J. E., Li, T., Meddle, S. L., Mendl, M., Robinson, E. S., Hammond, T. J., Nielsen, B. L., LaFollette, M. R., Vinuela-Fernandez, I., Tivey, E. K., & Lawrence, A. B. (2025). Stage 2 Registered Report: Refinement of tickling protocols to improve positive animal welfare in laboratory rats. F1000Research, 14, 773. https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.166417.1
  3. Rault, J.-L., Bateson, M., Boissy, A., Forkman, B., Grinde, B., Gygax, L., Harfeld, J. L., Hintze, S., Keeling, L. J., Kostal, L., Lawrence, A. B., Mendl, M. T., Miele, M., Newberry, R. C., Sandøe, P., Špinka, M., Taylor, A. H., Webb, L. E., Whalin, L., & Jensen, M. B. (2025). A consensus on the definition of positive animal welfare. Biology Letters, 21(1), 20240382. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2024.0382.
  4. Lawrence, A. B., Brown, S. M., Bradford, B. M., Mabbott, N. A., Bombail, V., & Rutherford, K. M. D. (2025). Non-neuronal brain biology and its relevance to animal welfare. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 173, 106136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2025.106136
  5. Lawrence, A.B., Newberry, R.C. and Špinka, M., 2024. Positive welfare: What does it add to the debate over pig welfare?. Advances in Pig Welfare, pp.83-112.
  6. Hammond, T. J., Brown, S. M., Meddle, S. L., Nielsen, B. L., Lawrence, A. B., & Bombail, V. (2024). Feel-good songs: application of a novel playback paradigm to induce a positive affective state in juvenile male Wistar rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 275, 106296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106296
  7. Borthwick E, Preshaw L, Wheeler-Launder C, Challinor C, Housby-Skeggs N, Boalch E, Brown SM+ and Pearson G+* (2023) Stable design influences relaxation and affiliative behaviour in horses during short isolation bouts. Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, 69-70: 1-7
  8. Daniels JT*, Busby D, Chase-Topping M and Brown SM (2023) I wish he’d listen: Client-centred interviewing approaches are associated with higher compliance with behavioural modification advice in pet dog owners. Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, 63:22-30
  9. Daniels JT*, Busby D, Chase-Topping M and Brown SM (2022) A survey of dog behaviour modification practice in the UK: Who is offering it, what methods are they using and how effective do their clients perceive practitioners to be? Journal of Veterinary Behaviour, 59:1-7
  10. Tivey, E. K. L., Martin, J. E., Brown, S. M., Bombail, V., Lawrence, A. B., & Meddle, S. L. (2022). Sex differences in 50 kHz call subtypes emitted during tickling-induced playful behaviour in rats. Scientific Reports, 12(1), 15323. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-19362-7
  11. Bombail, V., Brown, S. M., Hammond, T. J., Meddle, S. L., Nielsen, B. L., Tivey, E. K. L., & Lawrence, A. B. (2021). Crying With Laughter: Adapting the Tickling Protocol to Address Individual Differences Among Rats in Their Response to Playful Handling. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 8, 677872. https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2021.677872
  12. Vigors, B., Sandøe, P., & Lawrence, A. B. (2021). Positive welfare in science and society: differences, similarities and synergies. Frontiers in Animal Science, 2, 738193. https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2021.738193
  13. Vigors, B., Ewing, D. A., & Lawrence, A. B. (2021). Happy or healthy? How members of the public prioritise farm animal health and natural behaviours. PLOS ONE, 16(3), e0247788. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247788https://doi.org/10.3389/fanim.2021.638782
  14. Größbacher, V., Lawrence, A. B., Winckler, C. & Špinka, M. (2020). Negative play contagion in calves. Scientific Reports, 10(1), p. 21699. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-78748-7.
  15. Alexander, R., Aragón, O. R., Bookwala, J., Cherbuin, N., Gatt, J. M., Kahrilas, I. J., Kästner, N., Lawrence, A. B., … and Styliadis, C. (2020) The Neuroscience of Positive Emotions and Affect: Implications for Cultivating Happiness and Wellbeing. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.12.002.
  16. Hammond, T., Bombail, V., Nielsen, B. L., Meddle, S. L., Lawrence, A.B., & Brown, S.M. (2019). Relationships between play and responses to tickling in male juvenile rats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 221, 104879.
  17. Größbacher, V., Bučková, K., Lawrence, A. B., Špinka, M., & Winckler, C. (2019). Discriminating spontaneous locomotor play of dairy calves using accelerometers. Journal of Dairy Science, in press doi.org/10.3168/jds.2019-17005
  18. Bombail, V., Jerôme, N., Lam, H., Muszlak, S., Meddle, S. L., Lawrence, A.B., & Nielsen, B. L. 2019. Odour conditioning of positive affective states: Rats can learn to associate an odour with being tickled. PloS one, 14(6), e0212829.
  19. Lawrence, A. B., Vigors, B., & Sandøe, P. (2019). What Is so Positive about Positive Animal Welfare?—A Critical Review of the Literature. Animals, 9(10), 783.
  20. Brown, S.M., Bush, S.J., Summers, K.M., Hume, D.A. and Lawrence, A.B., 2018. Environmentally enriched pigs have transcriptional profiles consistent with neuroprotective effects and reduced microglial activity. Behavioural Brain Research, 350, 6-15.
  21. Brown, S. M., Peters, R., Nevison, I. M., & Lawrence, A. B. (2018). Playful pigs: Evidence of consistency and change in play depending on    litter and developmental stage. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 198, 36–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2017.09.018
  22. Connor M*, Lawrence AB and Brown SM (2018). Associations between oxytocin receptor gene polymorphisms, empathy towards animal and implicit associations towards animals. Animals, 8(8): 140
  23. Brown SM* and Connor M (2017) Application and Understanding of learning theory in UK based equestrians. Anthrozoos. 30(4), 565-579
  24. Brown SM*, Peters R and Lawrence AB (2017) Up-regulation of IGF-1 in the frontal cortex of piglets exposed to an environmentally enriched arena. Physiology and behaviour, 173: 285-292
  25. Brown, S.M., Klaffenbock, M., Nevison, I.M. & Lawrence, A.B. 2015. Evidence for litter differences in play behaviour in pre-weaned pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 172, 17-25.

For additional research outputs and publications from the Animal Behaviour and Welfare group and Professor Alistair Lawrence: 

 

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