你害怕所以我害怕：狗狗真的能闻到我们身上的恐惧，然后它们也开始恐慌了
我们跨种族之间的情感联系似乎真实存在
萌宠无辜眼，图片来源：Gary John Norman/Getty
撰文 Jake Buehler
翻译 阿金
审校 葛鹏
狗狗的主人们坚定地认为他们最亲爱的毛绒朋友能对自己的情绪感同身受。现在看来，这跨种族之间的情感联系似乎真实存在：狗狗可以闻到你的情绪，并以此改变自己的情绪。
来自意大利那不勒斯腓特烈二世大学（University of Naples Federico II）的 Biagio D’Aniello 说：“我们已经知道狗狗能看到，并听到人类表达情绪时发出的信号。”但是，还没有人研究过狗狗是否能明白人类散发出的气味线索。
“嗅觉系统的作用被大大低估了，也许是因为我们人类更关注视觉系统。” D’Aniello 继续讲道。然而，狗狗的嗅觉远超我们人类。
D’Aniello 和他的同事进行了一项测试，以观察狗狗是否真的能够闻到我们的情绪。首先，人类志愿者被安排看一些视频，这些视频能够激起人类恐惧、愉悦或者中性的情绪反应，同时，研究小组收集了他们的汗液样本。
然后，研究人员让宠物狗去闻这些气味样本，同时观察它们的行为，并检测心率。
比起愉悦或中性气味，闻到恐惧气味的狗狗表现得更紧张。它们的心率更高，更粘主人以求安抚，同时也更少去接触陌生人。
“我们一直都知道，狗狗会通过不同的感官渠道来收集自己社交伙伴的信息，并对不同的情况作出相应的反馈。”来自布达佩斯罗兰大学（Eötvös Loránd University）的 MártaGácsi 解释道，“但是，要展开其中的机制，将具体的渠道拆分出来，研究这些过程并非易事。”
D’Aniello 的研究表明，人类能够通过释放气味，无意中“绑架”狗狗的感情。另一项研究则表明，狗狗能够通过面部表情，来“回报”主人。
英国朴茨茅斯大学（Universityof Portsmouth）的 Juliane Kaminski 和她的同事发现，当狗狗知道有人在看着它们的时候，它们的面部表情最为丰富。
研究人员把狗狗带到一个人面前，这个人以不同的方式对待狗狗：看着狗狗，无视狗狗，给予食物，或什么都不给。然后实验小组分析，在这四种情景中，狗狗的面部表情有多少种变化。
他们发现，当有人看着狗狗的时候，它们的面部表情最为丰富。Kaminski说，没有迹象表明这是“餐桌效应”，即当狗狗想要从人类那里获取某些东西的时候，它们试图表现得更可爱。
“这更加证明了狗狗对于人们的关注相当敏感。” Kaminski总结道。
来自科瓦利斯市俄勒冈州立大学（Oregon State University）的 MoniqueUdell 提到：对于狗狗如何通过视觉向我们传递信号，我们又是如何回应，这些问题的答案还尚不明确。“这种研究需要充分了解人与狗之间的双向关系。”
然而，有证据显示我们能够感受到这些信号。Kaminski 发现当狗狗被注视着的时候，它们会以一种特殊的方式扬起眉毛。当我们去狗狗收容所的时候，这种扬起眉毛的表情能够增加它们被主人领回家收留的机会。扬眉的时候，狗狗的眼神看上去很“忧伤”，或像小宝宝那样萌，让人忍不住去疼爱。
目前尚不清楚，狗狗的驯化对它们创建这些行为有何种影响（如果确实存在的话）。事实表明，狗狗对我们的“柔情攻势”是在与我们相处千年后的产物。
原文链接：
论文信息（一）
[题目] Interspeciestransmission of emotional information via chemosignals: from humans to dogs (Canislupus familiaris)
[作者] Biagio D’Aniello,Gün Refik Semin, et al.
[链接] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10071-017-1139-x
[期刊] Animal Cognition
[日期] 2017.10.07
[编号] DOI: 10.1007/s10071-017-1139-x
[摘要] We report a study examining interspecies emotion transfervia body odors (chemosignals). Do human body odors (chemosignals) producedunder emotional conditions of happiness and fear provide information that isdetectable by pet dogs (Labrador and Golden retrievers)? The odor samples werecollected from the axilla of male donors not involved in the main experiment.The experimental setup involved the co-presence of the dog’s owner, a strangerand the odor dispenser in a space where the dogs could move freely. There werethree odor conditions [fear, happiness, and control (no sweat)] to which thedogs were assigned randomly. The dependent variables were the relevantbehaviors of the dogs (e.g., approaching, interacting and gazing) directed tothe three targets (owner, stranger, sweat dispenser) aside from the dogs’stress and heart rate indicators. The results indicated with high accuracy thatthe dogs manifested the predicted behaviors in the three conditions. There werefewer and shorter owner directed behaviors and more stranger directed behaviorswhen they were in the “happy odor condition” compared to the fear odor andcontrol conditions. In the fear odor condition, they displayed more stressfulbehaviors. The heart rate data in the control and happy conditions weresignificantly lower than in the fear condition. Our findings suggest thatinterspecies emotional communication is facilitated by chemosignals.
论文信息（二）
[题目] Humanattention affects facial expressions in domestic dogs
[作者] Juliane Kaminski, Jennifer Hynds, et al.
[链接] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12781-x
[期刊] Scientific Reports
[日期] 2017.10.19
[编号] DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12781-x
[摘要] Most mammalian species produce facial expressions.Historically, animal facial expressions have been considered inflexible andinvoluntary displays of emotional states rather than active attempts tocommunicate with others. In the current study, we aimed to test whetherdomestic dog facial expressions are subject to audience effects and/ or changesin response to an arousing stimulus (e.g. food) alone. We presented dogs withan experimental situation in which a human demonstrator was either attending tothem or turned away, and varied whether she presented food or not. Dogsproduced significantly more facial movements when the human was attentive thanwhen she was not. The food, however, as a non-social but arousing stimulus, didnot affect the dogs’ behaviour. The current study is therefore evidence thatdogs are sensitive to the human’s attentional state when producing facialexpressions, suggesting that facial expressions are not just inflexible andinvoluntary displays of emotional states, but rather potentially activeattempts to communicate with others.