Effects of the characteristic temperament of cats on the emotions and hemodynamic responses of humans

Abstract

Cats positive effects on their owners' physiological and psychological health, including improved mood and activation of the human prefrontal cortex and inferior frontal gyrus in the brain. However, the association between the health benefits provided by cat ownership and the characteristic behaviors and reactions of cats is unclear. We recruited 29 participants to measure human prefrontal cortex activity, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, during interactions with a cat. After the experiments, participants subjectively responded to a questionnaire regarding success rates for interactions with the cat, and completed the Selfassessment Manikin-a scale used to measure emotion. Interactions comprised eight types in four categories (touch, play, train, and feed). This study showed that interactions with a cat significantly activated the prefrontal cortex, regardless of interaction type. During training, the integral values of oxygenated hemoglobin in the left inferior frontal gyrus were the highest in all the interaction categories; however, success rates were lower than in the touch and feed interactions. Regarding the Self-assessment Manikin scores, all interaction categories showed a positive correlation between success rate and valence score, especially in the train and play interactions than in the touch and feed interactions. These results indicate that interactions with a cat activate the prefrontal cortex in humans, including the inferior frontal gyrus region. Moreover, cats' autonomous behaviors and reactions positively influenced the participants. The characteristic temperament of cats may be a key factor influencing the health benefits of owning cats.

Different brain activation patterns in the prefrontal area between self‐paced and high‐speed driving tasks

“…The functional components obtained from HMS have been shown to be highly coincident with signals estimated by MPAM in previous studies using body tilting, breath holding and finger tapping tasks [53, 55]. HMS has been applied to studies of children and adults using the same equipment as in the present study [33, 34, 56–60].…”

“…The head module incorporated six sources and six detectors arranged alternatively at a probe distance of 30 mm, resulting in 16 channels (Figure 2). The probe plane was placed on the forehead with Fpz in the international 10 to 20 system as the lowest center [32], according to previous studies targeting the prefrontal area of adults using the same CW-fNIRS equipment [33,34]. The probe and channel locations were spatially registered to the Montreal Neurological Institute standard brain space following the virtual registration method using similar CW-fNIRS equipment as this experiment [35].…”

Personalized Strategy for Animal-Assisted Therapy for Individuals Based on the Emotions Induced by the Images of Different Animal Species and Breeds

“…In addition, by summarizing the emotional profile, the highest number of participants showed the highest valence when the dog group was evaluated, followed by the cat and pig groups. It was reported that the individuals’ valence showed a positive correlation with the success rates for interactions with the pet, especially during training and play interactions [ 28 ]. However, the characteristic temperament of a pet may be the key factor to the mechanism underlying the positive health effects gained through pet ownership.…”

“…In addition to dogs, cats have become a popular companion animal for humans with positive effects on the pet owner’s health [ 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ]. It was reported that the factors related to the quality of dog–owner relationships differ from those of cat–owner relationships [ 32 ].…”

“…It was reported that the factors related to the quality of dog–owner relationships differ from those of cat–owner relationships [ 32 ]. From this point of view, the tools used to study the human–animal relationships need to be customized by species [ 28 ].…”