在你的爱犬旁边打个哈欠,它很可能也会跟着打个哈欠。虽然这种现象看似简单,但其实这种传染性的行为很不寻常:只有少数动物会有行为传染的现象,而其中只有狗能够跨越物种的“藩篱”。
有新研究表明,有时候狗打哈欠仅仅是因为听到了人打哈欠的声音。这是迄今为止狗“能通人性”的最强有力的证据。
除了人和狗之外,哈欠传染的行为也存在于狒狒、猕猴、黑猩猩等动物身上。有时,当你与朋友或熟人相处时,打哈欠的次数会增多,这说明,别人的哈欠会使你产生共鸣。同样,新研究表明,当狗看到熟悉的人打哈欠时,也会打更多的哈欠。这也许能为狗和人类之间是否真正存在共鸣提供证据。
葡萄牙波尔多大学的科学家们研究了29只狗,这些狗全都跟它们的主人在一起生活了6个月以上。科学家们把狗主人的哈欠声录下来,同时还录制了一位陌生妇女的哈欠声以及电脑合成的哈欠声。研究人员让每条狗都倾听这些声音,并记录了它们由这些熟悉或陌生的哈欠声引发哈欠的数量:29条狗中的12条在实验过程中打了哈欠。
这份研究成果将发表在7月份的《动物认知》ANIMAL COGNITION期刊上。研究报告指出,这些狗在听到熟人的哈欠声后打哈欠的频率,比听电脑合成的声音后打哈欠的频率高5倍。
研究团队的负责人Karine Silva认为,这一结果说明狗能够跟人产生“移情”或共鸣。这一现象并不奇怪,毕竟人类对狗的驯化从15000年前就开始了。
美国杜克大学的一位博士生认为,这一研究揭示了狗被人的哈欠声所感染这一行为更深层的机制。然而新的问题在于:狗能够像人一样感受到我们的情绪与内在状态吗?(生物谷Bioon.com)
doi:10.1007/s10071-012-0473-2
PMC:
PMID:
Auditory contagious yawning in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris): first evidence for social modulation
Karine Silva, Joana Bessa and Liliana de Sousa
Dogs’ capacity to ‘catch’ human yawns has recently attracted the attention of researchers in the field of animal cognition. Following recent studies suggesting that contagion yawning in humans, and some other primates, is empathy-related, some authors have considered the possibility that the same mechanism may underlie contagious yawning in dogs. To date, however, no positive evidence has been found, and more parsimonious hypotheses have been put forward. The present study explored the ‘contagion-only’ hypothesis by testing whether the mere sound of a human yawn can be sufficient to elicit yawning in dogs, in a way that is unaffected by social–emotional factors. Unexpectedly, results showed an interesting interplay between contagion and social effects. Not only were dogs found to catch human yawns, but they were also found to yawn more at familiar than unfamiliar yawns. Although not allowing for conclusive inferences about the mechanisms underlying contagious yawning in dogs, this study provides first data that renders plausible empathy-based, emotionally connected, contagious yawning in these animals.