題組內容
The long, loving gazes; the ritualized, often high-pitched, expressions of affection; the heroic self-sacrifice one would readily endure for the other: What is it about the bond between humans and their dogs that is not like the relationship between parent and child?
Now comes evidence that when our dogs gaze into our eyes with that "you are everything to me” look, our bodies-and theirs as well-are flooded with oxytocin, the hormone of love, nurture, mutual trust and, above all, bonding that forms between a parent and child.
In a new study, Japanese researchers observed the interactions of 30 dog owners and their canine companions and found that the more that the owners and their dogs gazed into each other's eyes, the more concentrated was the burst of oxytocin both human and canine produced. And, they found, the more we humans return a pet's gaze and the greater the resulting surge of oxytocin, the more emphatically we believe that ours is the best dog in the whole wide world.
The new research was published in Science magazine and conducted by researchers at Azabu University, Jichi Medical University and the University of Tokyo Health Sciences, all in Japan.
The study’s results suggest that dogs and their humans grow to love and protect each other through a positive feedback loop that is mediated by the same neurochemical-oxytocin-that jump-starts the bond between infant and mother, that cements mutual trust between lovers and that transforms men from solitary hunters to loving protectors of kith and kin.
Evan L. MacLean and Brian Hare, who research animal cognition at Duke University, called the study “the strongest test yet of the idea that humans and dogs are locked in an oxytocin feedback loop” in which sustained eye contact between man and beast plays a key role.
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