Pigs Learn to Play Video Games Using Joysticks with Their Snouts

The study notes that the pigs' control of the joystick and movement of the cursor was "well above chance," demonstrating how much they understood about what they had to do. 

Pigs can learn to play a simple video game, connecting the movement of the cursor on the screen to the joystick they manipulate using their snouts, shows new study in @FrontPsychol.

Read the research: https://t.co/mKVFwv0Hir, or our news article ⬇ https://t.co/IKeJBD5xK0

— Frontiers (@FrontiersIn) February 11, 2021

"It is no small feat for an animal to grasp the concept that the behavior they are performing is having an effect elsewhere. That pigs can do this to any degree should give us pause as to what else they are capable of learning and how such learning may impact them," said lead author of the study, Dr. Candace Croney, a professor at Purdue University.

The authors of the study used food as an incentive when training the pigs, and when treats weren't given, the pigs remarkably still showed cognition as they responded to the trainers' verbal and tactile cues. It even turned out that only verbal encouragement worked for the pigs during the especially tricky parts of the tasks. 

The study sheds important light on how much pigs acquire information, and how our actions and their surrounding environments impact them. 

As Croney said, "Informing management practices and improving pig welfare was and still is a major goal, but really, that is secondary to better appreciate the uniqueness of pigs outside of any benefit we can derive from them."

This study appears to be a bolster for a similar 1997 study carried out by Stanley Curtis of Pennsylvania State University, which also involved pigs trained to use joysticks to complete a game. Combining both studies may be the answer researchers have been waiting for to prove just how remarkable some pigs' skills are.