Effects of human-animal interactions on affect and cognition

Abstract

Human-animal interaction has clear positive effects on people's affect and stress. But less is know about how animal interactions influence cognition. The aim of this study is to investigate whether interacting with animals improves cognitive performance, specifically executive functioning. To test this, we conducted two experiments in which we had participants self-report their affect and complete a series of cognitive tasks (long-term memory, attentional control, and working memory) before and after either a brief interaction with a dog or a control activity. We found that interacting with a dog improved positive affect and decreased negative affect, stress, and anxiety compared to the control condition. However, we did not find effects of animal interaction on long-term memory, attentional control, or working memory. Thus, we replicated existing findings providing evidence that interacting with animals can improve affect, but we did not find similar improvements in cognitive performance. These results suggest that either our interaction was not of sufficient dose to elicit effects on cognition or the mechanisms underlying effects of human-animal interaction on cognition differ from effects generated by other cognition-enhancing interventions such as exposure to nature. Future research should continue to grow the connection between nature exposure and human-animal interaction studies to build our understanding of cognition in response to animal interactions.

The Impact of Sustained Ownership of a Pet on Cognitive Health: A Population-Based Study

“…Much of the HAI literature to date has focused on how HAI (i.e., dogs) benefits humans' affect and stress (Allen et al, 2001(Allen et al, , 2002Beetz et al, 2012;Crossman et al, 2020;McConnell et al, 2011). Significantly less attention has been given to how interactions with companion animals impact human cognition or other neurological outcomes, particularly in adult samples (Gee et al, 2015a;Gee et al, 2015b;Thayer & Stevens, 2021;Trammell, 2019). However, some investigators hypothesize that HAI (e.g., gazing at pets, directed attention to pets) could promote shortterm cognitive health through enhanced attentional control, working memory, and reduced autonomic responses to stress (Thayer & Stevens, 2021).…”

“…Despite hypotheses that interactions with companion animals may benefit cognition, short-term studies have found no impact of HAI on select cognitive domains such as working memory (Gee et al, 2015a; Gee et al, 2015b) and long-term memory (e.g., Trammell, 2019). Potential explanations for the lack of observed associations between HAI and cognition have been proposed (Thayer & Stevens, 2021). First, the threshold for the impact of HAI on cognition may be hard to reach using study designs that focus on short-term interactions with unfamiliar (and therefore unbonded) animals (Thayer & Stevens, 2021).…”

“…Potential explanations for the lack of observed associations between HAI and cognition have been proposed (Thayer & Stevens, 2021). First, the threshold for the impact of HAI on cognition may be hard to reach using study designs that focus on short-term interactions with unfamiliar (and therefore unbonded) animals (Thayer & Stevens, 2021). Second, there may be a time lag for the effects of HAI on cognition (e.g., Handlin et al, 2011; Thayer & Stevens, 2021) and the duration of exposure and number of interactions may be particularly important to account for in the context of examining the impact of HAI on cognitive functioning.…”

“…First, the threshold for the impact of HAI on cognition may be hard to reach using study designs that focus on short-term interactions with unfamiliar (and therefore unbonded) animals (Thayer & Stevens, 2021). Second, there may be a time lag for the effects of HAI on cognition (e.g., Handlin et al, 2011; Thayer & Stevens, 2021) and the duration of exposure and number of interactions may be particularly important to account for in the context of examining the impact of HAI on cognitive functioning. Third, most studies have focused on short-term interactions with unfamiliar dogs versus the impact of interactions with individuals’ own companion animals, with whom individuals’ likely have more enjoyable and/or stressful experiences.…”