Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance?
Abstract Facial communication is important in both human-human interactions and human-dog interactions. Individual factors, such as experience, relationship history, and mood, to name a few, influence the reception of facial signals/expressions. But superficial facial features are also significant i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre for Agriculture and Biodiversity International
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Human-Animal Interactions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/hai.2024.0005 |
| _version_ | 1797302883390062592 |
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| author | C.L. Sexton C. Buckley M. Sen F. Subiaul E.E. Hecht B.J. Bradley |
| author_facet | C.L. Sexton C. Buckley M. Sen F. Subiaul E.E. Hecht B.J. Bradley |
| author_sort | C.L. Sexton |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Facial communication is important in both human-human interactions and human-dog interactions. Individual factors, such as experience, relationship history, and mood, to name a few, influence the reception of facial signals/expressions. But superficial facial features are also significant in human communication, and likely impact communication between dogs and humans. For example, humans are better at evaluating the frequency and intensity of facial expressions in dogs that have plainer faces, if the dog is familiar to them, which could be related to a preference for non-complexity (human faces are generally much less physically diverse than dog faces). This study explored the effect of the physical complexity of dog and human faces on the perceived expressiveness of neutral-faced, unknown individuals of both species. Results indicate that when looking at static images of unknown dogs and humans, facial complexity has minimal impact on how expressive people perceive them to be. However, dogs are consistently ranked as more expressive than humans, and people who live with dogs tend to rank neutral-face dogs of all facial complexity levels as more expressive compared to the rankings of humans who do not live with dogs – which we hypothesize may be the result of a desire/tendency of dog owners to “read meaning” into dog faces. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:44:23Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-92e92e3cdbad46b49f3fd44cbcc5e266 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2957-9538 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T23:44:23Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Centre for Agriculture and Biodiversity International |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Human-Animal Interactions |
| spelling | doaj.art-92e92e3cdbad46b49f3fd44cbcc5e2662024-02-19T16:34:25ZengCentre for Agriculture and Biodiversity InternationalHuman-Animal Interactions2957-95382024-02-0112110.1079/hai.2024.0005Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance?C.L. Sexton0C. Buckley1M. Sen2F. Subiaul3E.E. Hecht4B.J. Bradley5Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA;Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA;Data Science Program, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA;Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA;Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USACenter for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA;Abstract Facial communication is important in both human-human interactions and human-dog interactions. Individual factors, such as experience, relationship history, and mood, to name a few, influence the reception of facial signals/expressions. But superficial facial features are also significant in human communication, and likely impact communication between dogs and humans. For example, humans are better at evaluating the frequency and intensity of facial expressions in dogs that have plainer faces, if the dog is familiar to them, which could be related to a preference for non-complexity (human faces are generally much less physically diverse than dog faces). This study explored the effect of the physical complexity of dog and human faces on the perceived expressiveness of neutral-faced, unknown individuals of both species. Results indicate that when looking at static images of unknown dogs and humans, facial complexity has minimal impact on how expressive people perceive them to be. However, dogs are consistently ranked as more expressive than humans, and people who live with dogs tend to rank neutral-face dogs of all facial complexity levels as more expressive compared to the rankings of humans who do not live with dogs – which we hypothesize may be the result of a desire/tendency of dog owners to “read meaning” into dog faces.http://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/hai.2024.0005interspecies communicationdog-human interactionhuman-animal interactionsfacial expressionsperceptioncomparative cognition |
| spellingShingle | C.L. Sexton C. Buckley M. Sen F. Subiaul E.E. Hecht B.J. Bradley Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance? Human-Animal Interactions interspecies communication dog-human interaction human-animal interactions facial expressions perception comparative cognition |
| title | Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance? |
| title_full | Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance? |
| title_fullStr | Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance? |
| title_short | Making or breaking the case for a plain face – Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance? |
| title_sort | making or breaking the case for a plain face is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance |
| topic | interspecies communication dog-human interaction human-animal interactions facial expressions perception comparative cognition |
| url | http://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/hai.2024.0005 |
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