Titel
Exploring the dog–human relationship by combining fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioural measures
Autor*in
Sabrina Karl
Clever Dog Lab, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna
Anna Zamansky
Information Systems Department, University of Haifa
... show all
Abstract
Behavioural studies revealed that the dog–human relationship resembles the human mother–child bond, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report the results of a multi-method approach combining fMRI (N = 17), eye-tracking (N = 15), and behavioural preference tests (N = 24) to explore the engagement of an attachment-like system in dogs seeing human faces. We presented morph videos of the caregiver, a familiar person, and a stranger showing either happy or angry facial expressions. Regardless of emotion, viewing the caregiver activated brain regions associated with emotion and attachment processing in humans. In contrast, the stranger elicited activation mainly in brain regions related to visual and motor processing, and the familiar person relatively weak activations overall. While the majority of happy stimuli led to increased activation of the caudate nucleus associated with reward processing, angry stimuli led to activations in limbic regions. Both the eye-tracking and preference test data supported the superior role of the caregiver’s face and were in line with the findings from the fMRI experiment. While preliminary, these findings indicate that cutting across different levels, from brain to behaviour, can provide novel and converging insights into the engagement of the putative attachment system when dogs interact with humans.
Stichwort
Animal behaviourNeuroscience
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
phaidra.univie.ac.at/o:1220813
Erschienen in
Titel
Scientific Reports
Band
10
ISSN
2045-2322
Erscheinungsdatum
2020
Publication
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Fördergeber
Austrian Science Fund (FWF) — W1262-B29
Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) — CS18-012
Erscheinungsdatum
2020
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
© The Author(s) 2020
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