Journal
PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
Volume 159, Issue -, Pages 80-87Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2016.03.019
Keywords
Dog; Positive emotion; Behavior; Infrared thermography; Heart Rate; Heart rate variability
Categories
Funding
- University degli Studi di Parma
- University degli Studi di Milano
- University degli Studi di Parma (FIL)
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Understanding how animals express positive emotions is becoming an interesting and promising area of research in the study of animal emotions and affective experiences. In the present study, we used infrared thermography in combination with behavioral measures, heart rate (HR) and heart rate variability (HRV), to investigate dogs' emotional responses to a potentially pleasant event: receiving palatable food from the owner. Nineteen adult pet dogs, 8 females and 11 males, were tested and their eye temperature, HR, HRV and behavior were recorded during a 30-minutestestconsisting of three 10-minute consecutive phases: Baseline (Phase 1), positive stimulation through the administration of palatable treats (Feeding, Phase 2) and Post-feeding condition following the positive stimulation (Phase 3). Dogs' eye temperature and mean HR significantly increased during the positive stimulation phase compared with both Baseline and Post-feeding phases. During the positive stimulation with food (Phase 2), dogs engaged in behaviors indicating a positive emotional state and a high arousal, being focused on food treats and increasing tail wagging. However, there was no evidence of an increase in HRV during Phase 2 compared to the Phase 1, with SDNN significantly increasing only in Phase 3, after the positive stimulation occurred. Overall results point out that IRT may be a useful tool in assessing emotional states in dogs in terms of arousal but fails to discriminate emotional valence, whose interpretation cannot disregard behavioral indexes. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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