Researchers from the Department of Ethology at ELTE compared the reactions of family dogs and miniature pigs to human emotional vocalizations around the world.
They found that both dogs and guinea pigs distinguished between the very common passive sound of a human cry and the non-passive but unusual sound of a human hum, but their reactions to the sounds differed, the Eötvös Loránd University Institute for Biology (ELTE) announced with MTI on Friday.
Based on the research, the dogs' responses indicated that their emotional state was modified to match the emotional content of the sounds they heard, supporting the concept of emotional engagement, the announcement said.
On the other hand, pigs showed more stressful behavior when exposed to more neutral but unusual humming sounds. These findings suggest that the emotional engagement induced by human sounds may have played a crucial role in the selection of dogs that led to their domestication.
Researchers have observed interspecies emotional transmission in family dogs that hear human distress signals.
We wondered whether the observed emotional transmission between dogs and humans was related to the well-conserved vocal structure of emotional vocalizations across species, or whether it was facilitated by dogs' specific selection for cooperation and dependence on humans.
– The announcement quotes Fanny Lehoczyki, a member of the Neuroethology Research Group at the ELTE Department of Ethics, and the study's first author. According to the abstract, to answer this question, the researchers compared the reactions of family dogs and miniature family pigs raised in the same conditions to human voices.
Although miniature pigs have become increasingly popular companion animals, their shared history with humans lacks selection for cooperation. During tests, the researchers exposed the animals to a high-intensity, negative sound with well-preserved vocal structure, a cry, and a low-intensity, slightly positive, and also unusual human sound, a hum.
According to the information, the researchers reached an interesting result, which is that the dogs adapted their emotional state to the human sounds they heard, that is, they showed more behaviors indicating a high degree of arousal and negative emotional state and responded with more sounds to crying than to humming.
However, the family pigs became more excited and in a more negative emotional state after hearing the more neutral buzz.
“Our findings suggest that decoding the emotional content of some human vocalizations, particularly those that lack a conservative acoustic structure and may be less meaningful to animals, such as humming, may be challenging for some pet species. The abstract quotes co-author Paula Pérez Fraga, also a member of the Neuroethics Research Group in the ELTE Department of Ethics.
Although it cannot be ruled out that guinea pigs also experienced emotional transmission when hearing human crying, one explanation for their reaction may be that the humming is very unusual and that sudden sounds stress the pigs more than human distress signals, the statement said.
One thing is clear: dogs seem particularly receptive to human emotions of all kinds, even the most unusual ones. Based on the results, understanding and decoding the emotions conveyed by human voices is essential for the development of cooperation between pets and humans. However, in order to confirm this suggestion, more research is needed, including physiological measurements, the abstract states.
5 books
Over 600 amazing, interesting and educational stories!
Follow the index on Facebook too!
