Effects of contact with a dog on prefrontal brain activity: A controlled trial.
Rahel MartiMilena PetignatValentine L MarcarJan HattendorfMartin WolfMargret Hund-GeorgiadisKarin HedigerPublished in: PloS one (2022)
Prefrontal brain activation in healthy subjects increased with the rise in interaction closeness with a dog or a plush animal. Moreover, interaction with a dog stimulated more brain activity compared to the control condition, suggesting that interactions with a dog can activate stronger attentional processes and elicit more emotional arousal than interacting with a nonliving stimulus.