Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human

Abstract Forming eye contact is important in dog–human communication. In this study we measured what factors affect dogs’ propensity for forming eye contact with an experimenter. We investigated the effect of [1] cephalic index (head shape’s metric, indicator of higher visual acuity at the centre of...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Zsófia Bognár, Dóra Szabó, Alexandra Deés, Enikő Kubinyi
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/e5ff76a3d4fc49bdb7253294fbc7349b
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
id oai:doaj.org-article:e5ff76a3d4fc49bdb7253294fbc7349b
record_format dspace
spelling oai:doaj.org-article:e5ff76a3d4fc49bdb7253294fbc7349b2021-12-02T17:39:19ZShorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human10.1038/s41598-021-88702-w2045-2322https://doaj.org/article/e5ff76a3d4fc49bdb7253294fbc7349b2021-04-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-88702-whttps://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Forming eye contact is important in dog–human communication. In this study we measured what factors affect dogs’ propensity for forming eye contact with an experimenter. We investigated the effect of [1] cephalic index (head shape’s metric, indicator of higher visual acuity at the centre of the visual field), [2] breed function (visual cooperativeness), [3] age and [4] playfulness with strangers in 125 companion dogs. Cephalic index was measured individually and analysed as a continuous variable. Results showed that [1] dogs with a higher cephalic index (shorter head) established eye contact faster. Since cephalic index is highly variable even within a breed, using artificial head shape groups or breed average cephalic index values is not recommended. [2] Breed function also affected dogs’ performance: cooperative breeds and mongrels established eye contact faster than dogs from non-cooperative breeds. [3] Younger dogs formed eye contact faster than older ones. [4] More playful dogs formed eye contact faster. Our results suggest that several factors affect dogs’ interspecific attention, and therefore their visual communication ability.Zsófia BognárDóra SzabóAlexandra DeésEnikő KubinyiNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2021)
institution DOAJ
collection DOAJ
language EN
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Zsófia Bognár
Dóra Szabó
Alexandra Deés
Enikő Kubinyi
Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human
description Abstract Forming eye contact is important in dog–human communication. In this study we measured what factors affect dogs’ propensity for forming eye contact with an experimenter. We investigated the effect of [1] cephalic index (head shape’s metric, indicator of higher visual acuity at the centre of the visual field), [2] breed function (visual cooperativeness), [3] age and [4] playfulness with strangers in 125 companion dogs. Cephalic index was measured individually and analysed as a continuous variable. Results showed that [1] dogs with a higher cephalic index (shorter head) established eye contact faster. Since cephalic index is highly variable even within a breed, using artificial head shape groups or breed average cephalic index values is not recommended. [2] Breed function also affected dogs’ performance: cooperative breeds and mongrels established eye contact faster than dogs from non-cooperative breeds. [3] Younger dogs formed eye contact faster than older ones. [4] More playful dogs formed eye contact faster. Our results suggest that several factors affect dogs’ interspecific attention, and therefore their visual communication ability.
format article
author Zsófia Bognár
Dóra Szabó
Alexandra Deés
Enikő Kubinyi
author_facet Zsófia Bognár
Dóra Szabó
Alexandra Deés
Enikő Kubinyi
author_sort Zsófia Bognár
title Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human
title_short Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human
title_full Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human
title_fullStr Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human
title_full_unstemmed Shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human
title_sort shorter headed dogs, visually cooperative breeds, younger and playful dogs form eye contact faster with an unfamiliar human
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2021
url https://doaj.org/article/e5ff76a3d4fc49bdb7253294fbc7349b
work_keys_str_mv AT zsofiabognar shorterheadeddogsvisuallycooperativebreedsyoungerandplayfuldogsformeyecontactfasterwithanunfamiliarhuman
AT doraszabo shorterheadeddogsvisuallycooperativebreedsyoungerandplayfuldogsformeyecontactfasterwithanunfamiliarhuman
AT alexandradees shorterheadeddogsvisuallycooperativebreedsyoungerandplayfuldogsformeyecontactfasterwithanunfamiliarhuman
AT enikokubinyi shorterheadeddogsvisuallycooperativebreedsyoungerandplayfuldogsformeyecontactfasterwithanunfamiliarhuman
_version_ 1718379854125072384