TY - JOUR
T1 - Oxytocin modulates responses to inequity in dogs
AU - Romero, Teresa
AU - Konno, Akigusu
AU - Nagasawa, Miho
AU - Hasegawa, Toshikazu
N1 - Funding Information:
We are thankful to the directors and staff members of the Yokohama Guide Dog Training Center J.G.D.A. (Kanagawa, Japan). We are also thankful to Jan Cash, Yuri Ochiai, Ayaka Takimoto and Yoshimi Sato for their assistance during data collection and video coding, and to Sarah Brosnan for helpful discussion and comments on a previous version of this manuscript. This work was supported by the MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Japan) to T.R. (grant number 26380981 ) and the MEXT Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Japan) to T.H. (grant number No. 4501 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2019/3/15
Y1 - 2019/3/15
N2 - Although several animals respond negatively to inequity, the underlying neurochemistry of the process remains poorly understood. In this study, we tested whether the neuropeptide oxytocin mediates responses to inequitable outcomes in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Subjects exchanged tokens to receive a food reward in conditions in which the distribution of reward varied. Dogs did respond negatively to inequity, refusing to participate in the test when their partner was rewarded and they were not. Their responses could not be explained merely by frustration, since the presence of a partner being rewarded had a significant effect on their behavior, compared to when the partner was present but not rewarded. Furthermore, after oxytocin intake dogs were less sensitive to the inequitable distribution of reward, performing more successful trials than when administered with placebo. Further, oxytocin treatment also increased dogs' attention towards their partners, and slowed their decision times, but did not affect their affiliation level towards their partners or the experimenter. Together, our findings suggest that oxytocin modulates responses to inequity in dogs by potentially affecting decision-making processes, but not by increasing affiliation.
AB - Although several animals respond negatively to inequity, the underlying neurochemistry of the process remains poorly understood. In this study, we tested whether the neuropeptide oxytocin mediates responses to inequitable outcomes in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Subjects exchanged tokens to receive a food reward in conditions in which the distribution of reward varied. Dogs did respond negatively to inequity, refusing to participate in the test when their partner was rewarded and they were not. Their responses could not be explained merely by frustration, since the presence of a partner being rewarded had a significant effect on their behavior, compared to when the partner was present but not rewarded. Furthermore, after oxytocin intake dogs were less sensitive to the inequitable distribution of reward, performing more successful trials than when administered with placebo. Further, oxytocin treatment also increased dogs' attention towards their partners, and slowed their decision times, but did not affect their affiliation level towards their partners or the experimenter. Together, our findings suggest that oxytocin modulates responses to inequity in dogs by potentially affecting decision-making processes, but not by increasing affiliation.
KW - Affiliation
KW - Decision latency
KW - Domestic dogs
KW - Inequity aversion
KW - Oxytocin
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059334064&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/id/eprint/34735/
U2 - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.12.023
DO - 10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.12.023
M3 - Article
C2 - 30593777
AN - SCOPUS:85059334064
SN - 0031-9384
VL - 201
SP - 104
EP - 110
JO - Physiology and Behavior
JF - Physiology and Behavior
ER -