Interest towards human, animal and object in children with autism spectrum disorders: an ethological approach at home

Grandgeorge, Marine; Bourreau, Yannig; Alavi, Zarrin; Lemonnier, Éric; Tordjman, Sylvie; Deleau, Michel; Hausberger, Martine

doi:10.1007/s00787-014-0528-9

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…Because the quality of the relationship may influence the pattern of visual attention, we used a parent-based short questionnaire to have an evaluation of it (see also Grandgeorge et al, 2012). This was represented by two items: information about the frequency of visual interaction between their child and their pet (according to a three-point Likert-scale: never, rarely, and often) and whether they considered the child-pet relationship as a "privileged" relationship, such as "favorite pet of the child, spending time and playing together and reciprocal behaviors") (defined by Grandgeorge et al, 2014).…”

Section: General Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual Attention Patterns Differ in Dog vs. Cat Interactions With Children With Typical Development or Autism Spectrum Disorders

Grandgeorge¹,

Gautier²,

Bourreau³

et al. 2020

Front. Psychol.

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Section: General Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Visual Attention Patterns Differ in Dog vs. Cat Interactions With Children With Typical Development or Autism Spectrum Disorders

Grandgeorge¹,

Gautier²,

Bourreau³

et al. 2020

Front. Psychol.

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“…As shown by a number of experimental studies, a general proneness toward animals and animal stimuli seems to emerge from early childhood onward (DeLoache et al, 2011 ; Lobue et al, 2013 ; Muszkat et al, 2015 ). Even in subjects with a deficit in the social domain (i.e., children with autism spectrum disorders) preference for animal features has been shown (Celani, 2002 ; Prothmann et al, 2009 , but see Grandgeorge et al, 2015 ), as well as an increase in social behaviors in the presence of animals compared to toys (O'Haire et al, 2013 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pet Face: Mechanisms Underlying Human-Animal Relationships

2016

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Accumulating behavioral and neurophysiological studies support the idea of infantile (cute) faces as highly biologically relevant stimuli rapidly and unconsciously capturing attention and eliciting positive/affectionate behaviors, including willingness to care. It has been hypothesized that the presence of infantile physical and behavioral features in companion (or pet) animals (i.e., dogs and cats) might form the basis of our attraction to these species. Preliminary evidence has indeed shown that the human attentional bias toward the baby schema may extend to animal facial configurations. In this review, the role of facial cues, specifically of infantile traits and facial signals (i.e., eyes gaze) as emotional and communicative signals is highlighted and discussed as regulating the human-animal bond, similarly to what can be observed in the adult-infant interaction context. Particular emphasis is given to the neuroendocrine regulation of the social bond between humans and animals through oxytocin secretion. Instead of considering companion animals as mere baby substitutes for their owners, in this review we highlight the central role of cats and dogs in human lives. Specifically, we consider the ability of companion animals to bond with humans as fulfilling the need for attention and emotional intimacy, thus serving similar psychological and adaptive functions as human-human friendships. In this context, facial cuteness is viewed not just as a releaser of care/parental behavior, but, more in general, as a trait motivating social engagement. To conclude, the impact of this information for applied disciplines is briefly described, particularly in consideration of the increasing evidence of the beneficial effects of contacts with animals for human health and wellbeing.

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“…Experimental studies suggest general interest toward live animal stimuli during early childhood 13,43 with more viewing time spent on pets with certain infant-like facial traits 44 . According to the animal connection hypothesis , it is likely that unexplored genetic variations can explain differences in human preferences to keeping pet animals such as dogs 11 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of large genetic influences on dog ownership in the Swedish Twin Registry has implications for understanding domestication and health associations

Fall

Kuja‐Halkola

Dobney

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Dogs were the first domesticated animal and, according to the archaeological evidence, have had a close relationship with humans for at least 15,000 years. Today, dogs are common pets in our society and have been linked to increased well-being and improved health outcomes in their owners. A dog in the family during childhood is associated with ownership in adult life. The underlying factors behind this association could be related to experiences or to genetic influences. We aimed to investigate the heritability of dog ownership in a large twin sample including all twins in the Swedish Twin Registry born between 1926 and 1996 and alive in 2006. Information about dog ownership was available from 2001 to 2016 from national dog registers. The final data set included 85,542 twins from 50,507 twin pairs with known zygosity, where information on both twins were available in 35,035 pairs. Structural equation modeling was performed to estimate additive genetic effects (the heritability), common/shared environmental, and unique/non-shared environmental effects. We found that additive genetic factors largely contributed to dog ownership, with heritability estimated at 57% for females and 51% for males. An effect of shared environmental factors was only observed in early adulthood. In conclusion, we show a strong genetic contribution to dog ownership in adulthood in a large twin study. We see two main implications of this finding: (1) genetic variation may have contributed to our ability to domesticate dogs and other animals and (2) potential pleiotropic effects of genetic variation affecting dog ownership should be considered in studies examining health impacts of dog ownership.

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Interest towards human, animal and object in children with autism spectrum disorders: an ethological approach at home

Cited by 24 publications

References 62 publications

Visual Attention Patterns Differ in Dog vs. Cat Interactions With Children With Typical Development or Autism Spectrum Disorders

Visual Attention Patterns Differ in Dog vs. Cat Interactions With Children With Typical Development or Autism Spectrum Disorders

Pet Face: Mechanisms Underlying Human-Animal Relationships

Evidence of large genetic influences on dog ownership in the Swedish Twin Registry has implications for understanding domestication and health associations

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