Those Puppy-Dog Eyes

Communication does not always have to be vocal; it can also be visual or chemical. You wouldn’t ordinarily think that dogs and humans communicate through chemical signals. However, have you ever wondered why you get that innate feeling to forgive your dog when he looks up at you with those sad puppy-dog eyes after destroying your new pair of shoes or digging a hole in the yard which you then fall into and twisted your ankle? It turns out that the dog’s gaze elicits the release of a hormone called oxytocin, which causes this forgiving response.

Previous research has found that when a person smells oxytocin, a hormone produced in the pituitary gland, their tendency to trust others increases. Recently, Mino Nagasawa and colleagues from Azabu University in Japan conducted a study in which dog owners were placed together with their dogs in half hour sessions. Urine samples from the owner were taken before and after the sessions to measure oxytocin concentrations. The researchers found that higher frequencies of behavioral exchanges initiated by the dog’s gaze correlated with higher concentrations of oxytocin in the urine.

Another set of similar experiments was conducted, however the owners were not allowed to look at their dog. No correlation was found between the levels of oxytocin in the owner’s urine and the frequencies of behavioral exchanges. This concludes that the interactions between dogs and their owners can increase oxytocin concentrations in the urine of the owner, particularly when the interactions are visual.

So there’s the scientific proof that those cute little puppy-dog eyes really do work.

To read the full article, click here.

Posted By Crystal Young

Chimps communications regulate by left side of the brain

New study has shown that chimpanzees mostly uses their right hands when communicating with other chimpanzees. This indicate that their left side of the brain does most of the work for regulating and expressing their ways of communicating. Understanding their gestures leading to suggestion for another similarity between chimpanzees and human, for most language skills human uses the left side of the brain. This could be another reason why chimpanzees are extremely close to human. Chimpanzees learns as quickly as human, the only thing is that they can't express our language.
Scientists conducted the experiment at Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, where they observed and recorded 70 captive chimpanzees for their behaviors and their gestures when communicating. They were focusing especially on chimpanzees gestures and how these gestures are produce under different social situations. William Hopkins from Anges Scott College who was the supervisor in the study said that they found the chimpanzees used the left side of the brain to control their right hands when gesturing.
Another idea that researchers believe is that speech was evolved from gestures. They said that the gestures in apes shares the same features as in human language and others properties.


Tiffany Phan
12/1/09