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Examining the Impact of a Brief Human–Canine Interaction on Stress and Attention
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The physician utilization behavior of 938 Medicare enrollees in a health maintenance organization was prospectively followed for 1 year. With demographic characteristics and health status at baseline controlled for, respondents who owned pets reported fewer doctor contacts over the 1-year period than respondents who did not own pets. Furthermore, pets seemed to help their owners in times of stress. The accumulation of prebaseline stressful life events was associated with increased doctor contacts during the study year for respondents without pets. This relationship did not emerge for pet owners. Owners of dogs, in particular, were buffered from the impact of stressful life events on physician utilization. Additional analyses showed that dog owners in comparison to owners of other pets spent more time with their pets and felt that their pets were more important to them. Thus, dogs more than other pets provided their owners with companioship and an object of attachment.
This exploratory study investigated the effect of visiting therapy dogs on college-student perceived and physiological stress the week prior to final exams. Students (n = 78) were randomly assigned to order of a therapydog intervention and attention-control condition, each 15 minutes long. Students completed the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), a stress visual analog scale (SVAS), and provided saliva for measuring nerve growth factor (sNGF) and alpha amylase (sAA), prior to randomization. Saliva samples and SVAS were again collected after each condition. There was no effect of group order on demographics, PSS, or initial SVAS. Repeated measures models were used to analyze the complete data sets of 57 students. There were no significant differences in sAA between or within students completing the intervention and control conditions. sNGF was not subjected to analysis as most levels were undetectable. Significant differences in SVAS scores were found between the intervention and control condition, with large effect sizes. SVAS scores were lower following the intervention, regardless of condition order (intervention first, p = 0.0001, d = 1.87; intervention second, p = 0.0004, d = 1.63). No SVAS differences were found for the control condition. Based on these findings, campus events with visiting therapy dogs represent a costeffective, easily accessible activity to reduce perceived, but not physiological, stress for college students prior to final exams.
We explored whether students’ (N = 154) engagement in mind wandering (both intentional and unintentional forms) throughout a 12-week undergraduate course was related to their performance on in-class quiz questions and later course exams. Intermittently presented thought-probes sampled mind-wandering rates during lectures, and retention of lecture information was gauged by later quiz and exam performance. A number of self-report measures including overall grade-point average (GPA), motivation to learn, and overall propensity to mind wander were also collected. Among the many results of our study, we found that at the group level students’ bouts of intentional, t = 2.37, p < .05, but not unintentional, t = 1.39, p = .17, mind wandering resulted in poorer quiz scores than did periods of on-task focus. At the level of individual differences, regression and mediation analyses revealed that intentional mind wandering was most strongly linked to short-term performance costs, measured by quiz performance (intentional: β = −.23, p < .01; unintentional: β = −.16, p = .06). Conversely, unintentional mind wandering was most strongly related to longer term performance costs, measured by exam performance (intentional: β = −.01, p = .90; unintentional: β = −.14, p = .06). Interestingly, mind wandering was found to be associated with performance independently of other known determinants of performance (e.g., GPA, class attendance). Together these findings provide evidence that (a) mind wandering during university lectures is associated with significant performance costs, and (b) the nature of these costs depends on whether the mind-wandering episode was intentional or unintentional.
A large and growing body of research demonstrates the impact of psychological stress on working memory. However, the typical study approach tests the effects of a single biological or psychological factor on changes in working memory. The current study attempted to move beyond the standard single-factor assessment by examining the impact of 2 possible factors in stress-related working memory impairments. To this end, 60 participants completed a working memory task before and after either a psychological stressor writing task or a control writing task and completed measures of both cortisol and mind wandering. We also included a measure of state anxiety to examine the direct and indirect effect on working memory. We found that mind wandering mediated the relationship between state anxiety and working memory at the baseline measurement. This indirect relationship was moderated by cortisol, such that the impact of mind wandering on working memory increased as cortisol levels increased. No overall working memory impairment was observed following the stress manipulation, but increases in state anxiety and mind wandering were observed. State anxiety and mind wandering independently mediated the relationship between change in working memory and threat perception. The indirect paths resulted in opposing effects on working memory. Combined, the findings from this study suggest that cortisol enhances the impact of mind wandering on working memory, that state anxiety may not always result in stress-related working memory impairments, and that high working memory performance can protect against mind wandering. (PsycINFO Database Record
(c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).
As the population ages the number of older adults living with hypertension (HTN) is rising dramatically. Uncontrolled HTN increases cardiovascular and renal mortality. Ambulatory (A) blood pressure (BP) is a better predictor of HTN-related morbidity and mortality than office BP. Lower
BP is the most important therapeutic goal in treating HTN. Any reduction in BP has significant benefits for older adults. The current study was designed to evaluate the impact of the presence of pet dogs and cats on ABP during the daily lives of independently living, older pet owners with
pre- to mild HTN. A repeated measures observational study of ABP of 32 pet owners (21 dogs, 8 cats, 3 cat and dog; 29 women) aged 50–83 years with BP 120–150/80–100 mmHg or < 150/100 with anti-hypertensive medication was conducted. Owner's ABPs were recorded every 20 minutes
for one day during waking hours at study entry, one month, and three months. Activity monitors and diaries were used to obtain information about activity, mood, and whether the pet and/or another person was present in the room (indoors) or in close proximity (outdoors) with the owner at each
assessment. Generalized estimating equation (GEE) analyses for hierarchical data (unstructured correlations) were performed for systolic and diastolic ABP. Mean ABPs were significantly (systolic BP/diastolic BP: dog p = 0.008/ p = 0.002; cat p < 0.009/ p <
0.001) different (systolic BP/diastolic BP mmHg: dog 3.1/1.5; cat –3.0/2.2) when pets were present after controlling for participant's mood (p > 0.05/ p < 0.001), activity intensity (p = 0.026/ p = 0.441), location (p = 0.013/ p = 0.004),
and the presence of other people (p = 0.947/ p = 0.723). The presence of a dog was associated with lower systolic and diastolic BP and of a cat was associated with lower diastolic BP and higher systolic BP during their owners' normal daily lives. This finding suggests that pets,
especially dogs, may be effective as an adjunctive intervention to slow the development or progression of HTN in older adults. Comparison of ABPs of pet owners with non-owners during their daily lives is warranted and underway.
At present, beyond the fact that dogs can be easier socialized with humans than wolves, we know little about the motivational and cognitive effects of domestication. Despite this, it has been suggested that during domestication dogs have become socially more tolerant and attentive than wolves. These two characteristics are crucial for cooperation, and it has been argued that these changes allowed dogs to successfully live and work with humans. However, these domestication hypotheses have been put forward mainly based on dog-wolf differences reported in regard to their interactions with humans. Thus, it is possible that these differences reflect only an improved capability of dogs to accept humans as social partners instead of an increase of their general tolerance, attentiveness and cooperativeness. At the Wolf Science Center, in order to detangle these two explanations, we raise and keep dogs and wolves similarly socializing them with conspecifics and humans and then test them in interactions not just with humans but also conspecifics. When investigating attentiveness toward human and conspecific partners using different paradigms, we found that the wolves were at least as attentive as the dogs to their social partners and their actions. Based on these findings and the social ecology of wolves, we propose the Canine Cooperation Hypothesis suggesting that wolves are characterized with high social attentiveness and tolerance and are highly cooperative. This is in contrast with the implications of most domestication hypotheses about wolves. We argue, however, that these characteristics of wolves likely provided a good basis for the evolution of dog-human cooperation.
The aim of the present study was to extend previous lifespan research to a wide age range (5 to 80 year olds) and investigate any potential differences in the development and decline of working memory functions. To that end, measures of both verbal and visuo-spatial working memory were included in a cross-sectional study. The findings indicated that there is considerable growth in childhood–on average 23 standard points; with performance peaking in 30-year olds. There was relatively little change in working memory performance in older adults, with 70 to 80 year olds performing at comparable levels to teenagers (13–19 year olds) in verbal working memory tests. Confirmatory factor analyses suggest that working memory skills across the lifespan are driven by domain differences (i.e., verbal or visuo-spatial stimuli), rather than functional differences (maintenance and manipulation of information).
Dogs are known to have stress and anxiety reducing effects. Several studies have shown that dogs are able to calm people during cognitive and performance stressors. Recently, therapy dogs have been proposed as a treatment adjunct for post-traumatic stress disorder patients. In this study we aimed to investigate, whether dogs also have anxiety- and stress reducing effect during “traumatic stressors.” 80 healthy female participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions. They were exposed to a “traumatic” film clip (trauma-film-paradigm). For one group of participants a friendly dog was present during the film, one group of participants was accompanied by a friendly human, another control group watched the film with a toy animal and the last group watched the film clip alone. Participants that were accompanied by the dog during the film reported lower anxiety ratings and less negative affect after the film clip as compared to the “toy dog group” and the “alone group.” Results of the “dog group” were comparable to the group that was accompanied by a friendly human. There were no differences in physiological stress responses between the four conditions. Our results show that dogs are able to lessen subjectively experienced stress and anxiety during a “traumatic” stress situation. This effect was comparable to that of social support by a friendly person. Implications for PTSD patients are discussed.
The current meta-analysis accumulates empirical findings on the phenomenon of mind-wandering,
integrating and interpreting findings in light of psychological theories of cognitive resource allocation.
Cognitive resource theory emphasizes both individual differences in attentional resources and task
demands together to predict variance in task performance. This theory motivated our conceptual and
meta-analysis framework by introducing moderators indicative of task-demand to predict who is more
likely to mind-wander under what conditions, and to predict when mind-wandering and task-related
thought are more (or less) predictive of task performance. Predictions were tested via a random-effects
meta-analysis of correlations obtained from normal adult samples (k =� 88) based on measurement of
specified episodes of off-task and/or on-task thought frequency and task performance. Results demonstrated that people with fewer cognitive resources tend to engage in more mind-wandering, whereas those with more cognitive resources are more likely to engage in task-related thought. Addressing predictions of resource theory, we found that greater time-on-task—although not greater task complexity—tended to strengthen the negative relation between cognitive resources and mind-wandering. Additionally, increases in mind-wandering were generally associated with decreases in task performance, whereas
increases in task-related thought were associated with increased performance. Further supporting resource
theory, the negative relation between mind-wandering and performance was more pronounced for
more complex tasks, though not longer tasks. Complementarily, the positive association between
task-related thought and performance was stronger for more complex tasks and for longer tasks. We
conclude by discussing implications and future research directions for mind-wandering as a construct of
interest in psychological research.
Objective: The objective of this study was to provide preliminary findings from an ongoing randomized clinical trial using a canine-assisted intervention (CAI) for 24 children with ADHD. Method: Project Positive Assertive Cooperative Kids (P.A.C.K.) was designed to study a 12-week cognitive-behavioral intervention delivered with or without CAI. Children were randomly assigned to group therapy with or without CAI. Parents of children in both groups simultaneously participated in weekly parent group therapy sessions. Results: Across both treatment groups, parents reported improvements in children’s social skills, prosocial behaviors, and problematic behaviors. In both groups, the severity of ADHD symptoms declined during the course of treatment; however, children who received the CAI model exhibited greater reductions in the severity of ADHD symptoms than did children who received cognitive-behavioral therapy without CAI. Conclusion: Results suggest that CAI offers a novel therapeutic strategy that may enhance cognitive-behavioral interventions for children with ADHD.
Mind-wandering is the focus of extensive investigation, yet until recently there has been no validated scale to directly measure trait levels of task-unrelated thought. Scales commonly used to assess mind-wandering lack face validity, measuring related constructs such as daydreaming or behavioral errors. Here we report four studies validating a Mind-Wandering Questionnaire (MWQ) across college, high school, and middle school samples. The 5-item scale showed high internal consistency, as well as convergent validity with existing measures of mind-wandering and related constructs. Trait levels of mind-wandering, as measured by the MWQ, were correlated with task-unrelated thought measured by thought sampling during a test of reading comprehension. In both middle school and high school samples, mind-wandering during testing was associated with worse reading comprehension. By contrast, elevated trait levels of mind-wandering predicted worse mood, less life-satisfaction, greater stress, and lower self-esteem. By extending the use of thought sampling to measure mind-wandering among adolescents, our findings also validate the use of this methodology with younger populations. Both the MWQ and thought sampling indicate that mind-wandering is a pervasive-and problematic-influence on the performance and well-being of adolescents.
Because of extensive media coverage, it is now widely believed that pets enhance their owners’ health, sense of psychological well-being, and longevity. But while some researchers have reported that positive effects accrue from interacting with animals, others have found that the health and happiness of pet owners is no better, and in some cases worse, than that of non–pet owners. I discuss some reasons why studies of the effects of pets on people have produced conflicting results, and I argue that the existence of a generalized “pet effect” on human mental and physical health is at present not a fact but an unsubstantiated hypothesis.
College academic success and retention have traditionally been predicted
using demographic and academic variables. This study moved beyond
traditional predictors. A survey of 218 undergraduate students from a
private Midwestern university revealed that emotional and social factors
(e.g., stress, frequency of alcohol consumption) related to GPA and
emotional factors (e.g., self-esteem, fatigue) related to attrition.
In recent studies of the structure of affect, positive and negative affect have consistently emerged as two dominant and relatively independent dimensions. A number of mood scales have been created to measure these factors; however, many existing measures are inadequate, showing low reliability or poor convergent or discriminant validity. To fill the need for reliable and valid Positive Affect and Negative Affect scales that are also brief and easy to administer, we developed two 10-item mood scales that comprise the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The scales are shown to be highly internally consistent, largely uncorrelated, and stable at appropriate levels over a 2-month time period. Normative data and factorial and external evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for the scales are also presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)
Conducted 2 studies, involving a total of 460 adults between 18 and 87 yrs of age, to determine which of several hypothesized processing components was most responsible for age-related declines in working memory functioning. Significant negative correlations between age and measures of working memory (i.e., from –.39 to –.52) were found in both studies, and these relations were substantially attenuated by partialing measures hypothesized to reflect storage capacity, processing efficiency, coordination effectiveness, and simple comparison speed. Because the greatest attenuation of the age relations occurred with measures of simple processing speed, it was suggested that many of the age differences in working memory may be mediated by age-related reductions in the speed of executing elementary operations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Empirical evidence suggests that a domain-specific coping style may play an important role in the way students manage stressful academic events and perform at college. The purpose of this research was to examine the extent to which college students' academic coping style and motivation mediate their academic stress and performance. A structural equation analysis showed that the relationship between college students' academic stress and course grade was influenced by problem-focused coping and motivation but not emotion-focused coping. As expected, greater academic stress covaried with lower course grades; however, students who engaged in problem-focused coping were more likely to be motivated and perform better than students who engaged in emotion-focused coping. Strategies for promoting more effective coping in college students are discussed.
A new measure that focused explicitly on the cognitive dimension of test anxiety was introduced and examined for psychometric quality as compared to existing measures of test anxiety. The new scale was found to be a reliable and valid measure of cognitive test anxiety. The impact of cognitive test anxiety as well as emotionality and test procrastination were subsequently evaluated on three course exams and students' self-reported performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test for 168 undergraduate students. Higher levels of cognitive test anxiety were associated with significantly lower test scores on each of the three course examinations. High levels of cognitive test anxiety also were associated with significantly lower Scholastic Aptitude Test scores. Procrastination, in contrast, was related to performance only on the course final examination. Gender differences in cognitive test anxiety were documented, but those differences were not related to performance on the course exams. Examination of the relation between the emotionality component of test anxiety and performance revealed that moderate levels of physiological arousal generally were associated with higher exam performance. The results were consistent with cognitive appraisal and information processing models of test anxiety and support the conclusion that cognitive test anxiety exerts a significant stable and negative impact on academic performance measures.
The vast majority of pet owners regard their companion animals as family members, yet the role of pets in family systems and family therapy has received little attention in research, training, and practice. This article first notes the benefits of family pets and their importance for resilience. It then examines their role in couple and family processes and their involvement in relational dynamics and tensions. Next, it addresses bereavement in the loss of a cherished pet, influences complicating grief, and facilitation of mourning and adaptation. Finally, it explores the ways that clients' pets and the use of therapists' companion animals in animal-assisted therapy can inform and enrich couple and family therapy as valuable resources in healing.
The first year of college can be extremely stressful, especially for students residing on campus.
The authors obtained information from college freshmen about their relationships with pets and investigated interest in a pet therapy program as social support for transient stressful periods.
As part of a university orientation program, 246 college freshman attended 1 of 5 health issues sessions offered during the 2006-2007 academic year. Approximately 50 freshmen attended each session.
Participants completed a questionnaire at the beginning of the session, followed by a 20-minute presentation about pet therapy that ended with pet therapy visitation.
Students identified that visits with certified pet therapy dogs could be beneficial to college freshman during their first year away from home.
These students indicated that a pet therapy program could temporarily fill the absence of previous support systems and be a catalyst for establishing new social relationships.
This article provides a review of research published since 1980 on the benefits of human-companion animal interaction. Studies focusing on the benefits of pet ownership are presented first, followed by research on the benefits of interacting with companion animals that are not owned by the subject (animal-assisted activities). While most of the published studies are descriptive and have been conducted with convenience samples, a promising number of controlled studies support the health benefits of interacting with companion animals. Future research employing more rigorous designs and systematically building upon a clearly defined line of inquiry is needed to advance our knowledge of the benefits of human-companion animal interaction.
On the basis of the executive-attention theory of working memory capacity (WMC; e.g., M. J. Kane, A. R. A. Conway, D. Z. Hambrick, & R. W. Engle, 2007), the authors tested the relations among WMC, mind wandering, and goal neglect in a sustained attention to response task (SART; a go/no-go task). In 3 SART versions, making conceptual versus perceptual processing demands, subjects periodically indicated their thought content when probed following rare no-go targets. SART processing demands did not affect mind-wandering rates, but mind-wandering rates varied with WMC and predicted goal-neglect errors in the task; furthermore, mind-wandering rates partially mediated the WMC-SART relation, indicating that WMC-related differences in goal neglect were due, in part, to variation in the control of conscious thought.
Autonomic responses were measured while 45 adult women performed a standard experimental stress task in the laboratory with only the experimenter present and 2 weeks later at home in the presence of a female friend, pet dog, or neither. Results demonstrated that autonomic reactivity was moderated by the presence of a companion, the nature of whom was critical to the size and direction of the effect. Ss in the friend condition exhibited higher physiological reactivity and poorer performance than subjects in the control and pet conditions. Ss in the pet condition showed less physiological reactivity during stressful tasks than Ss in the other conditions. The results are interpreted in terms of the degree to which friends and pets are perceived as evaluative during stressful task performance. Physiological reactivity was consistent across the laboratory and field settings.
The findings of this study confirm the independent importance of social factors in the determination of health status. Social data obtained during patients' hospitalization can be valuable in discriminating 1-year survivors. These social data can add to the prognostic discrimination beyond the effects of the well-known physiological predictors. More information is needed about all forms of human companionship and disease. Thus, it is important that future investigations of prognosis in various disease states include measures of the patient's social and psychological status with measures of disease severity. The phenomenon of pet ownership and the potential value of pets as a source of companionship activity or attention deserved more careful attention that that recorded in the literature. Almost half of the homes in the United States have some kind of pet. Yet, to our knowledge, no previous studies have included pet ownership among the social variables examined to explain disease distribution. Little cost is incurred by the inclusion of pet ownership in such studies, and it is certainly by the importance of pets in the lives of people today and the long history of association between human beings and companion animals. The existence of pets as important household members should be considered by those who are responsible for medical treatment. The need to care for a pet or to arrange for its care may delay hospitalization; it may also be a source of concern for patients who are hospitalized. Recognition of this concern by physicians, nurses, and social workers may alleviate emotional stress among such patients. The therapeutic uses of pets have been considered for patients hospitalized with mental illnesses and the elderly. The authors suggest that patients with coronary heart disease should also be included in this consideration. Large numbers of older patients with coronary heart disease are socially isolated and lonely. While it is not yet possible to conclude that pet ownership is beneficial to these patients, pets are an easily attainable source of psychological comfort with relatively few risks.
Two experiments examined how individual differences in working-memory capacity (WM) relate to proactive interference (PI) susceptibility. We tested high and low WM-span participants in a PI-buildup task under single-task or dual-task ("load") conditions. In Experiment 1, a finger-tapping task was imposed during encoding and retrieval of each list; in Experiment 2, tapping was required during encoding or retrieval. In both experiments, low spans showed greater PI than did high spans under no load, but groups showed equivalent PI under divided attention. Load increased PI only for high spans, suggesting they use attention at encoding and retrieval to combat PI. In Experiment 2, only low spans showed a dual-task cost on List 1 memory, before PI built up. Results indicate a role for attentional processing, perhaps inhibitory in nature, at encoding and retrieval, and are discussed with respect to theories of WM and prefrontal cortex function.
It is commonly assumed that owning a pet provides older residents in the community with health benefits including improved physical health and psychological well-being. It has also been reported that pet owners are lower on neuroticism and higher on extraversion compared with those without pets. However, findings of research on this topic have been mixed with a number of researchers reporting that, for older people, there is little or no health benefit associated with pet ownership.
To identify health benefits associated with pet ownership and pet caring responsibilities in a large sample of older community-based residents.
Using survey information provided by 2,551 individuals aged between 60 and 64 years, we compared the sociodemographic attributes, mental and physical health measures, and personality traits of pet owners and non-owners. For 78.8% of these participants, we were also able to compare the health services used, based on information obtained from the national insurer on the number of general practitioner (GP) visits they made over a 12-month period.
Compared with non-owners, those with pets reported more depressive symptoms while female pet owners who were married also had poorer physical health. We found that caring for a pet was associated with negative health outcomes including more symptoms of depression, poorer physical health and higher rates of use of pain relief medication. No relationship was found between pet ownership and use of GP services. When we examined the personality traits of pet owners and carers, we found that men who cared for pets had higher extraversion scores. Our principal and unexpected finding, however, was that pet owners and carers reported higher levels of psychoticism as measured by the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire.
We conclude that pet ownership confers no health benefits for this age group. Instead, those with pets have poorer mental and physical health and use more pain relief medication. Further, our study suggests that those with pets are less conforming to social norms as indicated by their higher levels of psychoticism.
Mind wandering has been identified as a possible cause for stress-related working memory (WM) task impairments following laboratory stressors. The current study attempted to induce mind wandering regarding negative, positive, or neutral events using an expressive writing task and examined the impact on WM task performance. We examined the role of mind wandering in understanding the impact of life stress on WM. Additionally, we explored the role of thought suppression on the relationship between mind wandering and WM. One hundred and fifty participants completed WM measures before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the writing manipulation. The writing manipulation did not alter mind wandering or WM task performance. Time 1 WM predicted mind wandering during the Time 2 WM task, which subsequently predicted poorer Time 2 WM task performance. The impact of daily life stress on WM was mediated by mind wandering. Trait levels of thought suppression moderated the impact of mind wandering on WM. Specifically, higher levels of suppression resulted in stronger negative impact of mind wandering on WM task performance. Findings are discussed in terms of the impact of mind wandering on WM task performance.
In 2013, 11% of the US population experienced serious psychological distress. This problem of psychological distress is exacerbated in colleges and universities, where more than half of students report experiencing moderate to severe depression. In spite of the prevalence of this psychological distress, the vast majority of these students do not receive treatment. To address the problem of psychological distress among students, many universities have instituted animal visitation programs (AVPs). These popular programs provide opportunities for participants to interact with animals (usually dogs), with the goal of alleviating distress. However, empirical evidence for the effectiveness of these programs is lacking. We therefore conducted a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the influence of a single, brief interaction with a dog on the subjective experience of anxiety and mood in a sample of students and medical residents (n=67). We compared the impact of interactions with a dog to the effects of viewing (but not interacting with) the same dog, and the effects of a no-treatment control. We found that interacting with a dog reduced anxiety and negative mood, and increased positive mood relative to the control conditions. These effects were large, providing direct support for the model of AVPs already in widespread use in colleges and universities, as well as primary schools, hospitals, dentist's offices, courthouses, nursing homes, airports, and Veteran's Affairs facilities. In addition, our findings suggest that future research on AVPs is needed to elucidate when and how these are most potent. The results of that research may be used to maximize the benefits of these programs, which are already so widespread.
Working memory (VVM) plays a critical role in the execution of a wide variety of cognitive tasks and predicts academic success. This study was designed to compare the impact of the presence of a dog or a person, and physical contact with them, on the performance of a WM task. It also examined whether the impact differed for two dogs, and whether these factors impacted arousal during the WM task. College students (n = 31, aged 18-23 years) performed a WM task.in five counterbalanced conditions; dog-touch, dog-no-touch, person-touch, person-no-touch, and alone. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two dogs; Miniature Poodle (n = 16) or Border Collie (n = 15). The WM task involved replicating increasingly complicated sequences of colored lights by touching them on an iPacr. Linear mixed model analyses revealed there was a significant interaction between collaborator and touch (p = 0.05); best WM scores occurred without touch with either the person or the dog present, and worst WM scores occurred when the participant was touching a dog. Analyzing WM test during the dog conditions, touch (p = 0.027) and dog breed OD = 0.042) contributed independently to it; task completion was worse when the poodle was present and better without touch. Physiological measures [heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability] during the experiment indicated that the WM task was physiologically arousing (p <0.001) compared with listening, and HR was higher when touching a person than a dog during the task (p <0.046). These results are consistent with facilitation of performance by the presence of an observer. If there is a beneficial effect on cognition from a dog, physical contact with the dog might not be a necessary component. Aspects of the dog (e.g., breed) are also likely factors in WM task performance. This study highlights the importance of situational characteristics in studies evaluating the impact of companion animals.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the presence of a dog would have an impact on object recognition memory performance of preschool children. This work represents an extension of previous research which found that preschoolers require fewer instructional prompts to complete
this type of memory task when in the presence of a dog. If children require fewer instructional prompts it is possible that they are better able to focus on the task itself and as a result, improved memory performance is likely. Because the earlier experiment utilized a very simple version
of the task that was readily completed by the preschool children, the overall performance data were at ceiling. The current study, involving 20 preschool children, included a manipulation of task difficulty through varying the number of distracters (one versus four) present at test. Increasing
the number of distractors in a simple recognition task is known to make that task more challenging, and thus performance was expected to be slower and less accurate in the four distracter conditions relative to the one-distracter conditions. The collaborators in the study were either a therapy
dog or a human. A two-way repeated measures design was used such that each child served as his/her own control and was tested in each of four separate conditions: dog present (one and four distracters) and human present (one and four distracters). The results showed that the preschool children
performed the object recognition task faster and more accurately in the presence of the therapy dog relative to a human and also in the one-distracter versus four-distracter condition. The authors conclude that these effects result from increased focus and/or motivation resulting from the
presence of the dog.
The impact of stress on cognitive functioning has been examined across multiple domains. However, few studies investigate both physical and psychological factors that impact cognitive performance. The current study examined the impact of a physical and psychosocial stressor on sustained attention and identified factors related to sustained attention, including cortisol, salivary alpha amylase (sAA) and mind wandering. A total of 53 participants completed either the socially evaluated cold pressor task or a control task followed by the sustained attention to response task with mind wandering measures. Participants also provided saliva samples following the attention task. Results indicate the stressor task did not impact mind wandering or sustained attention but increased cortisol and sAA. Mind wandering was negatively related to sustained attention and mediated the relationship between cortisol and sustained attention. The findings highlight the importance of examining multiple sources of stress-related cognitive impairments.
Previous research has shown that the presence of a dog can positively impact the speed at which preschoolers perform motor skills tasks and also their ability to adhere to instructions. The current study focused on the execution of a cognitive task-object categorization-by developmentally delayed and typical preschool children in the presence of a real dog, a stuffed dog, or a human. The real dog involved in this study was a Miniature Poodle. The children (n = 12) were asked to complete a match-to-sample task in which they had to choose a picture of an object that "goes with" another. Three categories of object exemplars were used: taxonomic, thematic, and irrelevant. The presence of the real dog resulted in significantly fewer irrelevant choices than either the stuffed dog or the human conditions. Additionally, results in this experiment were consistent with previous research, showing a developmental shift where younger children were more likely to make taxonomic than thematic choices, with the reverse true of the older children. These results indicate that the presence of the real dog does not appear to alter typical performance patterns seen in object categorization, but the fact that fewer errors were made in the presence of the dog indicates that the presence of the dog does have a positive impact on performance of this cognitive task. The authors discuss several possible explanations for this outcome.
Hospitalization is a major, stressful experience for children. The stress associated with children's hospitalization may lead to negative physiological and psychological sequelae. Pediatric healthcare professionals can develop interventions to decrease children's stress during hospitalization. Although Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) frequently is used to alleviate the stress of hospitalization, little scientific evidence exists on its efficacy in that situation. This study examined the effects of AAT on cardiovascular responses, state anxiety, and medical fear in hospitalized children. A quasi-experimental, repeated measures design was used. Children (8 girls, 7 boys, aged 7 to 17 years) participated in AAT and comparison visits on two consecutive days; they were assigned to AAT (n = 9) or comparison (n = 6) visits first. Children's systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and heart rate (HR) were measured 18 times: 3 pre-, during, and post-visit measurements each. State anxiety and medical fear were measured after each visit. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used for data analysis. SBP decreased from before to during to after AAT, while SBP decreased from before to during the comparison visit and increased from during to after the comparison intervention. The decreases in SBP after AAT continued after the intervention was over. The findings suggest that the cardiovascular effect of AAT may continue for at least a few minutes after the AAT ends. Children's anxiety and medical fear did not differ after the AAT visit compared with the comparison intervention. This exploratory study indicates that AAT can decrease physiological arousal in hospitalized children and therefore may be useful in helping them cope better in a hospital setting.
The psychological and cardiovascular influence of a friendly, unfamiliar dog on a group of 17 male students was compared to a group of men (19) who did not have access to the dog, during a stressor. Blood pressure and heart rate were measured during 4 test conditions (rest, preparation, speech task, recovery). State-anxiety was measured before and after the preparation and speech task. Subjects from the experimental group(E) but not from the control group(C) interacted with a dog during the preparation and speech tasks. The preparation and speech tasks caused statistically significant increases in cardiovascular parameters (blood pressure, heart rate) (F(12,22) = 17.60; p = 0.000), and state-anxiety (E-group: ¯xsta1 = 29.8; ¯xsta 2 = 47.9; t = -6.12; df = 16; p = 0.000, C-group: ¯xsta1 = 31.4; ¯xsta2 = 47,0; t = -5.68; df = 18; p = 0.000). No significant differences were found between the control and the experimental group with regard to state-anxiety anxiety (¯xc =15.6; ¯xe =-18.2; t = 0.63; df = 34; p = 0.533), blood pressure and heart rate (F(4,30) = 1.18; p = 0.338), even after controlling for the effects of daily stress (F(4,29) =1.427; p = 0.250). It is concluded that a friendly but unfamiliar dog has no significant psychological or cardiovascular effect on male students during a speech task in a laboratory setting. Possibly the stress of the speech task and the laboratory setting overrided the influence of the pet.
While acute stress is adaptive in the short term, chronic stress may interfere with HPA axis functioning and self-regulation that can, in turn, alter the body's immune response. Several studies suggest that acute and chronic stress consistently increase cortisol levels; however, the same cannot be said about S-IgA levels. We tested the effects of a mild chronic stress (an academic exam period), on cortisol and S-IgA responses to an acute stress. Exposure to an acute stressor significantly increases cortisol levels during periods of no-stress, but not during mild chronic stress, while S-IgA levels consistently increase during both sessions. Furthermore, we find that during the period of chronic mild stress, the perception of stress is related to increased cortisol response to an acute stressor. Combined, these findings shed light on the impact of increased background stress on acute stress responses.
American, Australian and British studies have shown that pet dogs and cats confer health benefits on their owners. This paper reports results from the first national survey (N = 1011) estimating the magnitude of these benefits. The survey showed that dog and cat owners make fewer annual doctor visits and are less likely to be on medication for heart problems and sleeping difficulties than non-owners. An important public policy implication is that pet ownership probably reduces national health expenditure. By linking sample survey results to data on health expenditure, the paper proposes a method of estimating savings. A preliminary estimate of savings of $988 million is given for Australia for financial year 1994--95.
Insufficient attention to tasks can result in slips of action as automatic, unintended action sequences are triggered inappropriately. Such slips arise in part from deficits in sustained attention, which are particularly likely to happen following frontal lobe and white matter damage in traumatic brain injury (TBI). We present a reliable laboratory paradigm that elicits such slips of action and demonstrates high correlations between the severity of brain damage and relative-reported everyday attention failures in a group of 34 TBI patients. We also demonstrate significant correlations between self-and informant-reported everyday attentional failures and performance on this paradigm in a group of 75 normal controls. The paradigm (the Sustained Attention to Response Task—SART) involves the withholding of key presses to rare (one in nine) targets. Performance on the SART correlates significantly with performance on tests of sustained attention, but not other types of attention, supporting the view that this is indeed a measure of sustained attention. We also show that errors (false presses) on the SART can be predicted by a significant shortening of reaction times in the immediately preceding responses, supporting the view that these errors are a result of `drift' of controlled processing into automatic responding consequent on impaired sustained attention to task. We also report a highly significant correlation of −0.58 between SART performance and Glasgow Coma Scale Scores in the TBI group.
Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) has gained much attention in civilian and military health care. Evidence supports its benefits with varied populations with diseases and disabilities, but no research has been done with injured or ill service members. This pretest, posttest nonrandomized control group study evaluated the effects of AAT on Warriors in transition (N=24) attending an Occupational Therapy Life Skills program with the long-term goal of improving their successful reintegration. Although significant differences were not found between the groups on most measures, anecdotal reports by participants and observers indicate that participants eagerly anticipated being with the therapy dogs, expressed pleasure and satisfaction with the experience, and regretted seeing it end. There were significant correlations between mood, stress, resilience, fatigue, and function at various measurement points. This is the first study to formally assess the benefits of AAT with wounded service members in garrison. Suggestions for future research are provided.
We developed a smartphone technology to sample people’s ongoing thoughts, feelings, and actions and found (i) that people
are thinking about what is not happening almost as often as they are thinking about what is and (ii) found that doing so typically
makes them unhappy.
1. Animal assisted therapy is an applied science using animals to solve a human problem. It is an interdisciplinary approach using animals as an adjunct to other therapies. 2. The major difference between animals as therapy and entertainment is the animal-human bond, a special relationship that develops when a person has strong feelings of psychological attachment to the animal. 3. It is essential that a complete nursing and activity assessment be made before implementation of individualized animal assisted therapy.
This paper presents evidence from three samples, two of college students and one of participants in a community smoking-cessation program, for the reliability and validity of a 14-item instrument, the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), designed to measure the degree to which situations in one's life are appraised as stressful. The PSS showed adequate reliability and, as predicted, was correlated with life-event scores, depressive and physical symptomatology, utilization of health services, social anxiety, and smoking-reduction maintenance. In all comparisons, the PSS was a better predictor of the outcome in question than were life-event scores. When compared to a depressive symptomatology scale, the PSS was found to measure a different and independently predictive construct. Additional data indicate adequate reliability and validity of a four-item version of the PSS for telephone interviews. The PSS is suggested for examining the role of nonspecific appraised stress in the etiology of disease and behavioral disorders and as an outcome measure of experienced levels of stress.
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the presence of friends, spouses, and pets on cardiovascular reactivity to psychological and physical stress.
Cardiovascular reactivity was examined among 240 married couples, half of whom owned a pet. Mental arithmetic and cold pressor were performed in one of four randomly assigned social support conditions: alone, with pet or friend (friend present for non-pet owners), with spouse, with spouse and pet/friend.
Relative to people without pets, people with pets had significantly lower heart rate and blood pressure levels during a resting baseline, significantly smaller increases (ie, reactivity) from baseline levels during the mental arithmetic and cold pressor, and faster recovery. Among pet owners, the lowest reactivity and quickest recovery was observed in the pet-present conditions.
People perceive pets as important, supportive parts of their lives, and significant cardiovascular and behavioral benefits are associated with those perceptions.
The results support the possibility that differences in cardiac autonomic modulation between pet owners and nonowners are a physiologic mechanism underlying the differences in survival between these groups. Pet owners exhibited increased short-and intermediate-term HRV indexes, and in the case of dog owners, longer term HRV indexes.
To evaluate the reliability and validity of the PANAS (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988b) and provide normative data.
Cross-sectional and correlational.
The PANAS was administered to a non-clinical sample, broadly representative of the general adult UK population (N = 1,003). Competing models of the latent structure of the PANAS were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis. Regression and correlational analysis were used to determine the influence of demographic variables on PANAS scores as well as the relationship between the PANAS with measures of depression and anxiety (the HADS and the DASS).
The best-fitting model (robust comparative fit index = .94) of the latent structure of the PANAS consisted of two correlated factors corresponding to the PA and NA scales, and permitted correlated error between items drawn from the same mood subcategories (Zevon & Tellegen, 1982). Demographic variables had only very modest influences on PANAS scores and the PANAS exhibited measurement invariance across demographic subgroups. The reliability of the PANAS was high, and the pattern of relationships between the PANAS and the DASS and HADS were consistent with tripartite theory.
The PANAS is a reliable and valid measure of the constructs it was intended to assess, although the hypothesis of complete independence between PA and NA must be rejected. The utility of this measure is enhanced by the provision of large-scale normative data.
It has been proposed that pet ownership improves cardiovascular health. This study examines the relation of pet ownership with systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, mean arterial pressure, and hypertension in a large sample of older men and women.
Participants were 1179 community-dwelling men (n = 498) and women (n = 681) age 50-95 years. Participants responded to a 1991-1992 mailed questionnaire ascertaining pet ownership, and they attended a 1992-1996 clinic visit at which systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures were measured and use of antihypertensive medication was validated. Pulse pressure was calculated as SBP minus DBP. Mean arterial pressure was calculated as (SBP+DBP)/2. Body mass index, waist-hip ratio, and information on other potential confounders were obtained.
Average age of participants was 70.4 +/- 10.8 years; 30.0% reported current pet ownership. Mean SBP was 137.5 +/- 21.4 mm Hg, and DBP was 76.1 +/- 9.3 mm Hg; 55.6% were hypertensive (SBP >or= 140, DBP >or= 90 or taking hypertension medication). Pet owners were younger and slightly more overweight and they exercised less than nonowners; owners were somewhat more likely to have diabetes and to use beta-blockers. In unadjusted analyses, pet owners had lower SBP, pulse pressure, and mean arterial pressure, and a reduced risk of hypertension (odds ratio = 0.62; 95% confidence interval = 0.49-0.80). However, after adjustment for age and other confounders, pet ownership was not associated with systolic or diastolic blood pressure, pulse pressure, mean arterial pressure or risk of hypertension.
Results suggest that pet ownership is not independently associated with blood pressure, vascular reactivity, or hypertension.
Academic examinations and immunity: academic stress or examination stress?
- J A Bosch
- C Ring
- E J De Geus
- A V Amerongen
- Bosch J. A.
Heart rate variability during a working memory task: Does touching a dog or person affect the response?
- N R Gee
- E Friedmann
- M Stendahl
- A Fisk
- V Coglitore
- Gee N. R.