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Contagious yawning in domestic dog puppies (Canis lupus familiaris): The effect of ontogeny and emotional closeness on low-level imitation in dogs

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Author

Summary, in English

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.

Department/s

Publishing year

2013

Language

English

Pages

233-240

Publication/Series

Animal Cognition

Volume

16

Issue

2

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Springer

Topic

  • Psychology (excluding Applied Psychology)
  • Zoology

Keywords

  • Canis lupus familiaris
  • Yawning
  • Imitation
  • Contagion
  • Empathy
  • Development

Status

Published

Project

  • Centre for Cognitive Semiotics (RJ)

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1435-9456