2015/04/16 by Miho Nagasawa, Shouhei Mitsui, Shiori En +6 · 5 citations
Psychology · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Health Professions · Neuroscience · Mathematics · #Neuroendocrine regulation and behavior #Human-Animal Interaction Studies #Infant Health and Development #Coevolution #Gaze #Oxytocin #Loop (graph theory) #Communication #Biology #Neuroscience #Psychology #Artificial intelligence #Computer science #Evolutionary biology #Mathematics #Combinatorics
paper · doi:10.1126/science.1261022
openalex publication_date 2015/04/16 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
Human-like modes of communication, including mutual gaze, in dogs may have been acquired during domestication with humans. We show that gazing behavior from dogs, but not wolves, increased urinary oxytocin concentrations in owners, which consequently facilitated owners' affiliation and increased oxytocin concentration in dogs. Further, nasally administered oxytocin increased gazing behavior in dogs, which in turn increased urinary oxytocin concentrations in owners. These findings support the existence of an interspecies oxytocin-mediated positive loop facilitated and modulated by gazing, which may have supported the coevolution of human-dog bonding by engaging common modes of communicating social attachment.