Contagious yawning in domestic dog puppies (Canis lupus familiaris): The effect of ontogeny and emotional closeness on low-level imitation in dogs
Madsen, Elainie LU and Persson, Tomas LU
(2013)
In Animal Cognition
16(2).
p.233-240
- Abstract
- Contagious yawning is a well-documented phenomenon in humans and has recently attracted much attention from developmental and comparative sciences. The function, development and underlying mechanisms of the phenomenon, however, remain largely unclear. Contagious yawning has been demonstrated in dogs and several non-human primate species, and theoretically and empirically associated with empathy in humans and non-human primates. Evidence of emotional closeness modulating contagious yawning in dogs has, nonetheless, been contradictory. Humans show a developmental increase in susceptibility to yawn contagion, with typically developing children displaying a substantial increase at the age of four, when a number of cognitive abilities (e.g.... (More)
- Contagious yawning is a well-documented phenomenon in humans and has recently attracted much attention from developmental and comparative sciences. The function, development and underlying mechanisms of the phenomenon, however, remain largely unclear. Contagious yawning has been demonstrated in dogs and several non-human primate species, and theoretically and empirically associated with empathy in humans and non-human primates. Evidence of emotional closeness modulating contagious yawning in dogs has, nonetheless, been contradictory. Humans show a developmental increase in susceptibility to yawn contagion, with typically developing children displaying a substantial increase at the age of four, when a number of cognitive abilities (e.g. accurate identification of others' emotions) begin to clearly manifest. Explicit tests of yawn contagion in non-human animals have, however, thus far only involved adult individuals. Here, we report a study of the ontogeny of domestic dogs' (Canis lupus familiaris) susceptibility to yawn contagion, and whether emotional closeness to the yawning model affects this. Thirty-five dogs, aged 4-14 months, observed a familiar and unfamiliar human repeatedly yawn or gape. The dogs yawned contagiously, but emotional closeness with the model did not affect the strength of contagion, raising questions as to recent evidence of emotionally modulated auditory contagious yawning in dogs. The dogs showed a developmental effect, with only dogs above 7 months evidencing contagion. The results support the notion of a developmental increase in dogs' attention to others and identification of others' emotional states and suggest that yawn contagion is underpinned by developmental processes shared by humans and other animals. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/3125332
- author
- Madsen, Elainie
LU
and Persson, Tomas
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2013
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Canis lupus familiaris, Yawning, Imitation, Contagion, Empathy, Development
- in
- Animal Cognition
- volume
- 16
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 233 - 240
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000315035100008
- scopus:84874105085
- pmid:23076724
- ISSN
- 1435-9456
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10071-012-0568-9
- project
- Centre for Cognitive Semiotics (RJ)
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- ad171064-7b40-4a6a-a23d-f49e1c68f258 (old id 3125332)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 10:58:57
- date last changed
- 2022-02-17 23:08:30
@article{ad171064-7b40-4a6a-a23d-f49e1c68f258,
abstract = {{Contagious yawning is a well-documented phenomenon in humans and has recently attracted much attention from developmental and comparative sciences. The function, development and underlying mechanisms of the phenomenon, however, remain largely unclear. Contagious yawning has been demonstrated in dogs and several non-human primate species, and theoretically and empirically associated with empathy in humans and non-human primates. Evidence of emotional closeness modulating contagious yawning in dogs has, nonetheless, been contradictory. Humans show a developmental increase in susceptibility to yawn contagion, with typically developing children displaying a substantial increase at the age of four, when a number of cognitive abilities (e.g. accurate identification of others' emotions) begin to clearly manifest. Explicit tests of yawn contagion in non-human animals have, however, thus far only involved adult individuals. Here, we report a study of the ontogeny of domestic dogs' (Canis lupus familiaris) susceptibility to yawn contagion, and whether emotional closeness to the yawning model affects this. Thirty-five dogs, aged 4-14 months, observed a familiar and unfamiliar human repeatedly yawn or gape. The dogs yawned contagiously, but emotional closeness with the model did not affect the strength of contagion, raising questions as to recent evidence of emotionally modulated auditory contagious yawning in dogs. The dogs showed a developmental effect, with only dogs above 7 months evidencing contagion. The results support the notion of a developmental increase in dogs' attention to others and identification of others' emotional states and suggest that yawn contagion is underpinned by developmental processes shared by humans and other animals.}},
author = {{Madsen, Elainie and Persson, Tomas}},
issn = {{1435-9456}},
keywords = {{Canis lupus familiaris; Yawning; Imitation; Contagion; Empathy; Development}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
pages = {{233--240}},
publisher = {{Springer}},
series = {{Animal Cognition}},
title = {{Contagious yawning in domestic dog puppies (Canis lupus familiaris): The effect of ontogeny and emotional closeness on low-level imitation in dogs}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-012-0568-9}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10071-012-0568-9}},
volume = {{16}},
year = {{2013}},
}