Effects of contact with a dog on prefrontal brain activity: A controlled trial

Abstract

Background There is a broad range of known effects of animal contact on human mental and physical health. Neurological correlates of human interaction with animals have been sparsely investigated. We investigated changes in frontal brain activity in the presence of and during contact with a dog. Methods Twenty-one healthy individuals each participated in six sessions. In three sessions, participants had contact with a dog, and in three control sessions they interacted with a plush animal. Each session had five two-minute phases with increasing intensity of contact to the dog or plush animal from the first to the fourth phase. We measured oxygenated, deoxygenated, and total hemoglobin and oxygen saturation of the blood in the frontal lobe/frontopolar area with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (SenSmart Model X-100) to assess brain activity. Findings In both conditions, the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin increased significantly from the first to the fourth phase by 2.78 μmol/l (CI = 2.03–3.53, p < .001). Oxygenated hemoglobin concentration was 0.80 μmol/l higher in the dog condition compared to in the control condition (CI = 0.27–1.33, p = .004). Deoxygenated-hemoglobin concentration, total hemoglobin concentration, and oxygen saturation showed similar patterns. Conclusion Prefrontal brain activation in healthy subjects increased with the rise in interaction closeness with a dog or a plush animal. Moreover, interaction with a dog stimulated more brain activity compared to the control condition, suggesting that interactions with a dog can activate stronger attentional processes and elicit more emotional arousal than interacting with a nonliving stimulus.

Pets in Palliative Care

“…Human-dog interaction improves the mental well-being of participants as suggested by [26]. Prefrontal brain activation in healthy subjects increased with the rise in interaction and closeness with a dog.…”

Psychophysiological and emotional effects of human–Dog interactions by activity type: An electroencephalogram study

“…In another study, participants showed higher frontal lobe brain activity when they interacted with a dog compared to a stuffed animal. In addition, frontal lobe brain activity increased as the intensity of contact with the animal increased [ 57 ]. Our study showed similar results.…”

Observation of human-animal interaction for research (OHAIRE) behavior coding in a randomized control trial of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a canine-assisted intervention

“…Multiple studies have compared live animals to stuffed animals in the context of AAI and outcomes are mixed. For example, research examining the activation brain activity suggests that both interaction with a live dog and a stuffed animal dog increased brain activity, but the live dog stimulated more activity than the stuffed dog ( 29 ). Another study suggests that interaction with a robot dog and a live dog can be similar regarding the effects on mood, but different when examined on a deeper cognitive attribution level ( 30 ).…”