are you looking at me? dogs’ responsiveness to human gaze
TRANSCRIPT
Abstracts 69
USE OF MINIMALLY-INVASIVEELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY (EEG) TO STUDYEVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS (ERPS) IN DOGS(CANIS FAMILIARIS)Tiffani Howell1,*, Russell Conduit2, Samia Toukhsati1,Pauleen Bennett11Animal Welfare Science Centre, School of Psychologyand Psychiatry, Monash University, Building 17,Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia2School of Psychology and Psychiatry, Monash University,Building 17, Wellington Road, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia*Corresponding author: [email protected];Phone: 161 (0)3 9905 1713
EEG is a fundamental physiological measurement of brainactivity in humans. P300 event-related potentials (ERPs)constitute a measurable change in electrophysiological brainactivity occurring approximately 300 msec after exposure toa novel stimulus. In humans, P300 ERPs are considered to berelated to attention, memory, and expectation. They havebeen used to investigate the neural aspects of cognitiveprocessing in disorders like dementia and post-traumaticstress disorder, as well as in healthy populations. Dogcognition research is currently based largely on behavioralresponses, making it difficult to distinguish between innatecapabilities and enabling factors such as obedience trainingand motivation. Research examining P300 ERPs in dogscould be instrumental in understanding the neuro-cognitiveprocesses that underpin both observable behaviors and theirabsence. Previous EEG research in dogs has aimed todiagnose diseases like epilepsy or to better understand themammalian brain, and has usually been prohibitively inva-sive. A new procedure, however, relies on use of threesubdermal needle electrodes similar in size to acupunctureneedles. This minimally-invasive procedure should allowdogs to be relaxed but alert while being assessed, and couldbe used to study P300 ERPs in dogs. We are not aware of anyresearch exploring P300 ERPs in dogs but are confident thatthis procedure could be used in cognition research including:two-dimensional object discrimination, olfactory/auditorydiscrimination, development, empathy, and breed differences.This preliminary study describes the methodology for usingthis procedure in an auditory oddball paradigm, to determinewhether P300 ERPs can be reliably measured in dogs.
Key words: event-related potentials; P300; dog; auditoryoddball; cognitive processing
ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME? DOGS’ RESPONSIVENESS TOHUMAN GAZEKarine Silva1,2,*, Alexandra Ribeiro1, Ana Magalh~aes3,Alexandra Valongeiro1, Liliana de Sousa1,21InstitutodeCienciasBiom�edicasAbel Salazar,Universidadedo Porto, Departamento de Ciencias do Comportamento,Largo Prof. Abel Salazar, 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal
2Animas, Avenida Sid�onio Pais, 392, r/c Dto., 4100-466Porto, Portugal3Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade doPorto, Rua do Campo Alegre, 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal*Corresponding author: [email protected]
The ‘‘eye contact effect’’ is defined as the phenomenon thatperceived eye contact modulates the concurrent and/orimmediately following cognitive processing and/or behav-ioral response. According to recent experimental studies,eye contact appears to function as a warning cue duringinter-specific interactions, and human gaze has been shownto influence the behavior of many species.Although staring was long suggested to affect dog-humaninteractions, it is commonly assumed that dogs perceive notsingle cues of human behavior but the pattern of behavioras a group of simultaneously perceived cues, and no studyhas yet analyzed individually the effect of human eyecontact on the behavior of these animals.The present study aimed at: i) testing whether human gazecan alter the behavior of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris)when compared with no human eye contact, and ii) assess-ing differences between breed groups (defined according togenetic patterns) in the responsiveness to human gaze.Although data are still being processed, a preliminaryanalysis pointed to significant differences in the behavior ofdogs between the two experimental conditions (human gazeand no human eye contact). This analysis also suggesteddifferences in the responsiveness to human staring betweenbreeds with ancient origins and those with modern Euro-pean origins. While in the former (ancient breeds) humanstaring appears to elicit an aversive response, in the later(modern breeds), it seems to provide a foundation forcommunication and social interaction.As highlighted by many authors, studies focusing on dog-human interactions are important for a better understandingof the process of domestication in general and the evolutionof social communicative abilities in particular.
Key words: human gaze; Canis familiaris; behavior
EMPATHIC DOGS: THEORIZING ABOUT THE POSSIBLEDOMESTICATION OF EMOTIONAL CONTAGIONKarine Silva1,2,*, Liliana de Sousa1,21Instituto de Ciencias Biom�edicas Abel Salazar,Departamento de Ciencias do Comportamento, LargoProf. Abel Salazar, 2, 4099-003 Porto, Portugal2Animas, Avenida Sid�onio Pais, 392, r/c Dto., 4100-466Porto, Portugal*Corresponding author: [email protected]
Recent research has shed new light on the long debatedevolutionary origin of empathy. Studies suggest that allmammals have a basic capacity for sharing the emotions ofothers, which can combine with cognitive skills and fosteraltruistic-like behaviors in a few species.