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Example of facial movement AU101 (inner brow raiser) in a domestic dog (Rhodesian Ridgeback, not a subject in the study), increasing the height and overall size of the orbital cavity (eye): A) neutral on right side of face, B) AU101 on right side of face.
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How wolves were first domesticated is unknown. One hypothesis suggests that wolves underwent a process of self-domestication by tolerating human presence and taking advantage of scavenging possibilities. The puppy-like physical and behavioural traits seen in dogs are thought to have evolved later, as a byproduct of selection against aggression. Usi...
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Citations
... Dogs possess a wide repertoire of signals to interact with the environment and communicate their responses to different situations [1]. They can express themselves through facial expressions [2][3][4], which are sensitive to human attentional state [5], body posture [6,7], tail wagging [8] and vocalisations [9,10]. They are able to do so in distinctive ways depending on the emotional salience of a stimulus (positive or negative) that they are responding to. ...
Dogs are good models for studying behaviour and cognition as they have complex social capabilities. In the current study, we observed how human emotional valences (positive, neutral and negative) affected aspects of dogs’ behaviour. We expected that dogs would exhibit more approaching behaviours in the positive condition and more signs of avoidance in the negative one. We analysed videos of 70 adult pet dogs of various breeds taken from an experiment in which one of two actors expressed an emotion and dogs could freely explore the environment for 30 s. Our results show that dogs exhibit differential behaviour when presented with different emotional valences. Two behaviours arose that might be linked to a reciprocal positive emotional state in dogs: tail raised between 90° and 180° and physical contact during sniffing. These behaviours are associated with an active search for information. In the positive conditions, dogs were more willing to explore the social environment and gather information from the actors.
... [33][34][35] . Paedomorphic facial attributes have been found to enhance the chance of adoption in both cats 36 and dogs 37 . Owners also infer the personality of dogs and expected relationship quality based on physical appearance 38 . ...
Despite the serious problems with their general health and longevity, small brachycephalic breeds, especially the French bulldog, are becoming increasingly popular among pet owners. The motivations for the choice of short-nosed breeds have been extensively investigated in recent years; however, this issue has been addressed mainly by relying on owner reports, resulting in somewhat vague explanations of "cute looks", referring to the child-schema phenomenon and "behaviour well suited for companionship". In this study, we set out to compare the behaviour of two brachycephalic (English and French bulldogs) and a mesocephalic (Hungarian mudi) breed in a problem-solving context. The dogs were given the task of opening boxes containing food rewards. We investigated human-directed behaviour elements over success and latency (indicators of motivation and ability). ... We found that the short-headed breeds were less successful but much more oriented toward humans than mesocephalic dogs. Owners might interpret these behaviours as "helplessness" and dependence. The results support the hypothesis that infant-like traits may be present not only in appearance but also in behaviour in brachycephalic breeds, eliciting a caring behaviour in owners.
... Besides these similarities, there are important differences between human infants' and family dogs' cognitive abilities and emotional processing. Dogs are non-conspecific social partners with different anatomy and the capacity to display facial expressions as compared to humans 36,37 . There is also evidence that they process human faces differently than humans do (e.g. ...
Parents tend to use a specific communication style, including specific facial expressions, when speaking to their preverbal infants which has important implications for children’s healthy development. In the present study, we investigated these facial prosodic features of caregivers with a novel method that compares infant-, dog- and adult-directed communication. We identified three novel facial displays in addition to the already described three facial expressions (i.e. the ‘prosodic faces’) that mothers and fathers are typically displaying when interacting with their 1–18 month-old infants and family dogs, but not when interacting with another adult. The so-called Special Happy expression proved to be the most frequent face type during infant- and dog-directed communication which always includes a Duchenne marker to convey an honest and intense happy emotion of the speaker. These results suggest that the ‘prosodic faces’ play an important role in both adult-infant and human–dog interactions and fulfil specific functions: to call and maintain the partner’s attention, to foster emotionally positive interactions, and to strengthen social bonds. Our study highlights the relevance of future comparative studies on facial prosody and its potential contribution to healthy emotional and cognitive development of infants.
... Some adults have also been noted to interpret dog behavior in this way (Demirbas et al., 2016). Because of their paedomorphic, or baby-like, features (Waller et al., 2013;Kaminski et al., 2019), dog facial configurations are often perceived as cute, which may result in humans giving a positive appraisal when interpreting canine behavior (Borgi et al., 2014;Borgi & Cirulli, 2016). ...
Personal wellbeing is greatly influenced by our childhood and adolescence, and the relationships formed during those phases of our development. The human-dog bond represents a significant relationship that started thousands of years ago. There is a higher prevalence of dog ownership around the world, especially in households including children. This has resulted in a growing number of researchers studying our interactions with dogs and an expanding evidence base from the exploration of child-dog interactions. We review the potential effects of child-dog interactions on the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of both species. A search of the SCOPUS database identified documents published between January 1980 and April 2022. Filtering for key inclusion criteria, duplicate removals, and inspecting the references of these documents for additional sources, we reviewed a total of 393 documents, 88% of which were scientific articles. We were able to define the numerous ways in which children and dogs interact, be it neutral ( e.g ., sharing a common area), positive ( e.g ., petting), or negative ( e.g ., biting). Then, we found evidence for an association between childhood interaction with dogs and an array of benefits such as increased physical activities, a reduction of stress, and the development of empathy. Nonetheless, several detrimental outcomes have also been identified for both humans and dogs. Children are the most at-risk population regarding dog bites and dog-borne zoonoses, which may lead to injuries/illness, a subsequent fear of dogs, or even death. Moreover, pet bereavement is generally inevitable when living with a canine companion and should not be trivialized. With a canine focus, children sometimes take part in caretaking behaviors toward them, such as feeding or going for walks. These represent opportunities for dogs to relieve themselves outside, but also to exercise and socialize. By contrast, a lack of physical activity can lead to the onset of obesity in both dogs and children. Dogs may present greater levels of stress when in the presence of children. Finally, the welfare of assistance, therapy, and free-roaming dogs who may interact with children remains underexplored. Overall, it appears that the benefits of child-dog interactions outweigh the risks for children but not for dogs; determination of the effects on both species, positive as well as negative, still requires further development. We call for longitudinal studies and cross-cultural research in the future to better understand the impact of child-dog interactions. Our review is important for people in and outside of the scientific community, to pediatricians, veterinarians, and current or future dog owners seeking to extend their knowledge, and to inform future research of scientists studying dogs and human-animal interactions.
... Furthermore, paedomorphosis has been widely studied in many species of wild vertebrates, such as the shaved mouse or naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) [6], southern short-tailed opossum (Monodelphis dimidiata) [7], and various amphibian species [8][9][10]. Comparatively, similar studies examining domestic animals are very scarce, whit dogs [11], rabbits [12], and horses [2,5,13] being the primary focus. In dogs, the development of the neonate and facial bones (which are part of the splanchnocranium) occur at differing rates to those bones of the skull, which are part of the neurocranium) [14]. ...
This study examined paedomorphosis in PAH and F1 crossbreds. A sample of 99 horses was selected from 40 different breeders and consisted of three groups: stallions (n = 16), mares (n = 53), and geldings (n = 30), ranging from 10 months to 27 years in age. All horses presented a concave celloid lateral left head profile in the acquired photographic images. The hypothesis proposed in this study suggested the lateral profile of the head in juveniles was representational in the adult form due to the neonate’s facial bones (part of the splanchnocranium) developing at a different rate to those of the skull. The methodology utilized geometric morphometrics to identify 23 landmarks so as to identify profile curvature indicative between the three groups (stallions, mares, and geldings). Principal component analysis reduced the number of variables to 14 examinable landmarks. Using a two-NPMANOVA and multivariate regression test, it was demonstrated that an isometric relationship between the concave celloid profile in the juvenile and its adult counterpart existed. This result supported the hypothesis that PAH and F1 crossbreds expressed a paedomorphic trait due to the adult form retaining the concave celloid profile identified in the juvenile.
... As mentioned above, children viewed dog faces differently from human faces, attending to dogs for longer than humans and to slightly different facial regions. Although basic facial features are common between humans and dogs (i.e., eyes, nose, mouths, etc.), dog faces are overall drastically different from humans in various aspects, ranging from size, shape and location of these features to skin/hair colour, hair coverage and even facial muscle movement (Waller et al., 2013). ...
Children are often surrounded by other humans and companion animals (e.g., dogs, cats); and understanding facial expressions in all these social partners may be critical to successful social interactions. In an eye‐tracking study, we examined how children (4‐10 years old) view and label facial expressions in adult humans and dogs. We found that children looked more at dogs than humans, and more at negative than positive or neutral human expressions. Their viewing patterns (Proportion of Viewing Time, PVT) at individual facial regions were also modified by the viewed species and emotion, with the eyes not always being most viewed: this related to positive anticipation when viewing humans, whilst when viewing dogs, the mouth was viewed more or equally compared to the eyes for all emotions. We further found that children's labelling (Emotion Categorisation Accuracy, ECA) was better for the perceived valence than for emotion category, with positive human expressions easier than both positive and negative dog expressions. They performed poorly when asked to freely label facial expressions, but performed better for human than dog expressions. Finally, we found some effects of age, sex, and other factors (e.g., experience with dogs) on both PVT and ECA. Our study shows that children have a different gaze pattern and identification accuracy compared to adults, for viewing faces of human adults and dogs. We suggest that for recognising human (own‐face‐type) expressions, familiarity obtained through casual social interactions may be sufficient; but for recognising dog (other‐face‐type) expressions, explicit training may be required to develop competence. We conducted an eye‐tracking experiment to investigate how children view and categorise facial expressions in adult humans and dogs Children's viewing patterns were significantly dependent upon the facial region, species and emotion viewed Children's categorisation also varied with the species and emotion viewed, with better performance for valence than emotion categories Own‐face‐types (adult humans) are easier than other‐face‐types (dogs) for children, and casual familiarity (e.g., through family dogs) to the latter is not enough to achieve perceptual competence This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
... Some adults have also been noted to interpret dog behavior in this way (Demirbas et al., 2016). Because of their paedomorphic, or baby-like, features (Waller et al., 2013;Kaminski et al., 2019), dog facial configurations are often perceived as cute, which may result in humans giving a positive appraisal when interpreting canine behavior (Borgi et al., 2014;Borgi & Cirulli, 2016). ...
Our wellbeing is greatly influenced by our childhood and adolescence, and the relationships that we form during those phases of our development. The human-dog bond started thousands of years ago. The higher prevalence of dog ownership around the world, especially in households including children along with the growing number of people studying dogs most likely explain the growing literature focusing on child-dog interactions. We review the potential effects of child-dog interactions on the physical, mental, and social wellbeing of both species. A scoping search of the SCOPUS database found several hundred documents meeting selection criteria. It allowed us to define the numerous ways in which children and dogs can interact, be it neutral (e.g., sharing a common area), positive (e.g., petting), or negative (e.g., biting). Then, we found evidence for an association between interacting with dogs during childhood and an array of health and mental benefits like stress relief and the development of empathy. Walking a dog and playing with one are perfect physical activity opportunities. Additionally, interacting with a dog can help lower stress and may have a role in the development of empathy. Nonetheless, a number of detrimental outcomes have also been identified in both humans and dogs. Children are the most at-risk population regarding dog bites and dog-borne zoonoses, which may lead to a subsequent fear of dogs or even death. Moreover, pet bereavement is generally inevitable when living with a canine companion and should not be trivialized. In terms of dogs, children sometimes take part in caretaking behaviors toward them which include going on walks. They are opportunities for dogs to relieve themselves outside, but also to exercise and socialize. In contrast, a lack of physical activity can lead to the onset of obesity. Dogs may present greater levels of stress when in the presence of children. Finally, the welfare of assistance, therapy, and free-roaming dogs remains underexplored. Overall, the study of the effects, positive as well as negative, on both species still requires further development. We call for more longitudinal studies and hope for cross-cultural research in the future in order to better understand the impact child-dog interactions might have.
... From a behavioural point of view, the most selected characteristics undergoing domestication are low levels of aggression and increased tameness, which correspond to neotenous features [5,[7][8][9][10][11]. For example, dogs are neotenous compared to their wild counterparts-the wolves [12,13]-because artificial selection has favoured individuals showing more playful and less aggressive behaviours [14][15][16]. Such a suite of behavioural traits-often accompanied by physio-morphological features (e.g., testosterone levels, cranial morphology) -is known as 'domestication syndrome' [17,18]. ...
The ‘domestication syndrome’ defines a suite of features that domesticated animals possess as the result of the artificial selection operated by Homo sapiens since the Neolithic. An interesting anthropological question is whether such features, including increased tameness and reduced aggression, apply to all domesticated forms. We investigated this issue in the domestic pig (Sus scrofa). We video-recorded and analysed aggression and social play (mostly play-fighting) sessions from piglets (three litters; n = 24) and wild boar hybrids (domestic pig mother x wild boar father; three litters; n = 27) from 6–50 days of age, raised in the same woodland/grassland habitat and extensive farming management (ethical farm ‘Parva Domus’, Cavagnolo, Torino). Play and aggression session structure was assessed via Asymmetry (AI; offensive/defensive pattern balance), Shannon (H′; pattern variability), and Pielou (J; pattern evenness) indices. We found that piglets played more (especially after the 20th day of life) and engaged in less variable and uniform sessions than wild boar hybrids. Compared to hybrids, piglets showed less variable but more frequent (especially when approaching weaning) and asymmetrical aggressive events. Thus, the domestication syndrome does not seem to fully apply to either social play or aggression, possibly because artificial selection has produced greater tameness of pigs towards humans than towards conspecifics.
... The Japanese cultural concept of "kawaii" (the quality of cuteness, Muehlenbein, 2017) makes it easy to understand why these primates are increasing in popularity in Japan and other Asian countries. In addition to that, galagos present strong paedomorphic characterises, and paedomorphic facial expressions in animals has been associated to higher attractiveness to humans for pet ownership (Waller et al., 2013). We have previously seen videos of nocturnal primates going viral on social media and increasing the desire to own them as pets, when the tickled slow loris went viral on YouTube . ...
Social media is known to influence consumers' attitudes and to increase demand for wild animals as pets, when depicted online. We investigate the online presence of the nocturnal primates gala-gos, on TikTok and Instagram, and its influence on followers' attitudes and desire to keep galagos as pets. We monitored activity June-December 2020 and conducted sentiment analysis on 21976 comments. We assessed trends in Google searches and estimated the international trade of live galagos using CITES reports. Post views increased up to 472% within the study period. Posts were mostly from Japan, Thailand, and Russia, with comments in 43 different languages. Of the comments , 95% were positive, e.g., "cute" and "I want one". Google searches of the term "galago pet" increased over time, as did the number of live galagos exported. Southeast Asia is having a boom in exotic pet trade. Viral videos of other nocturnal primates previously led to increased demand for pets, and we hope our findings provide data to guide policy and conservation interventions.
... Most taxonomies of human emotions, in agreement with previous models [i.e., (107,108)], postulate the existence of a fairly small set of basic emotions such as sadness, joy, anger, fear, surprise and disgust (109). The emotions described in these taxonomies are not only recognizable in human faces (110,111) but also in those of animals such as different primate species (112)(113)(114)(115), the dog [DogFACS: (116)], the cat [Cat FACS: (117)], or the horse [EquiFACS: (118)]. Thus, there appears to be evolutionary continuity between humans and mammals and birds in the recognition of emotional states (119,120). ...
The Integrative Model of Human-Animal Interactions (IMHAI) described herewith provides a conceptual framework for the study of interspecies interactions and aims to model the primary emotional processes involved in human-animal interactions. This model was developed from theoretical inputs from three fundamental disciplines for understanding interspecies interactions: neuroscience, psychology and ethology, with the objective of providing a transdisciplinary approach on which field professionals and researchers can build and collaborate. Seminal works in affective neuroscience offer a common basis between humans and animals and, as such, can be applied to the study of interspecies interactions from a One Health-One Welfare perspective. On the one hand, Jaak Panksepp's research revealed that primary/basic emotions originate in the deep subcortical regions of the brain and are shared by all mammals, including humans. On the other hand, several works in the field of neuroscience show that the basic physiological state is largely determined by the perception of safety. Thus, emotional expression reflects the state of an individual's permanent adaptation to ever-changing environmental demands. Based on this evidence and over 5 years of action research using grounded theory, alternating between research and practice, the IMHAI proposes a systemic approach to the study of primary-process emotional affects during interspecies social interactions, through the processes of emotional transfer, embodied communication and interactive emotional regulation. IMHAI aims to generate new hypotheses and predictions on affective behavior and interspecies communication. Application of such a model should promote risk prevention and the establishment of positive links between humans and animals thereby contributing to their respective wellbeing.
