You can lead a horse to water and, it turns out, convince it to drink if the reward is great enough, researchers have found.

研究发现，如果你带一匹马到水边，如果奖励足够，你可以说服它喝水。



A new study has suggested horses are more intelligent than previously thought, having been observed to quickly adapt to a treat-based game with changing rules.

一项新的研究表明，马比人们之前想象的要聪明得多， 研究观察到马能够迅速适应基于奖励且规则不断变化的游戏。

Researchers from Nottingham Trent University (NTU) said they were surprised by how the horses quickly grasped the game, busting previous theories that equine brains respond only to immediate stimuli and are not complex enough to strategies.

诺丁汉特伦特大学（NTU）的研究人员表示，他们对马儿迅速掌握这个游戏的能力感到惊讶， 这打破了以往关于马脑只对即时刺激做出反应、不够复杂而无法制定策略的理论。

The new findings could lead to more humane horse training regimes and improvements to their welfare, researchers said. The study involved 20 horses, who first were rewarded with a treat for touching a piece of card with their nose.

研究人员表示，这一新发现可能会导致更人性化的马匹训练制度和马匹福利的改善。该研究涉及20匹马，这些马首先被奖励用鼻子触摸一张卡片。

In the second stage, a "stop light" was introduced, and the rule was changed so that the reward was only given if they touched the card while the light was off.

在第二阶段，研究人员引入了一个“停止灯”， 并改变了规则，即只有在灯熄灭时触摸卡片才能获得奖励。

This did not alter the behaviour of the horses, as they were observed touching the card regardless of the status of the light. That is, until the rules changed for a third time.

但这并没有改变马儿的行为，因为它们无论灯的状态如何都会触摸卡片。直到规则第三次改变。

In the final stage, researchers introduced a penalty of a 10-second timeout for touching the card while the stop light was on.

在最后一阶段，研究人员规定，如果在停止灯亮时触摸卡片，则马儿必须接受10秒的暂停惩罚。

The team observed a rapid adjustment to the horses' behaviour now there was a cost to getting it wrong, all of them quickly learning to play by the rules to avoid the timeout, researchers said.

研究人员表示，由于犯错有代价，研究团队观察到马儿的行为迅速调整， 它们很快就学会了遵守规则以避免暂停惩罚。

"We were expecting horses' performance to improve when we introduced the time-out, but were surprised by how immediate and significant the improvement was," lead researcher Louise Evans said.

“我们原本预计，在引入暂停惩罚后，马的表现会有所提高， 但没想到提高得如此迅速和显著，”首席研究员路易斯·埃文斯表示。

The researchers believe the fact the horses adapted so quickly indicates they understood the rule of the stop light the entire time, but had no reason to follow the rule when there was no consequence for getting it wrong.

研究人员认为，马儿能够如此迅速地适应，这表明它们一直理解停止灯的规则， 但在没有犯错后果的情况下，它们没有理由遵守规则。

The study, published in the Applied Animal Behaviour Science journal shows that horses are more cognitively advanced than they are given credit for, Dr Carrie Ijichi, a senior equine researcher at NTU said.

这项研究发表在《应用动物行为科学》杂志上，诺丁汉特伦特大学的高级马匹研究员凯丽·伊吉奇博士表示， 这项研究表明，马匹的认知能力比人们想象的要先进得多。

"This teaches us that we shouldn't make assumptions about animal intelligence or sentience based on whether they are 'built' just like us," she said.

“这告诉我们，我们不应该基于动物是否‘像我们一样被塑造’来假定它们的智力或意识，”她说。