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Animals
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Advanced Research in Animal Communication
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Advanced Research in Animal Communication

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Human-Animal Interactions, Animal Behaviour and Emotion".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 21296

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Serenella D'Ingeo

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Guest Editor
Animal Physiology and Behavior Unit, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70121 Bari, Italy
Interests: neuroscience; behavior and cognitive science; emotion; animal communication; human–animal relationship
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Angelo Quaranta

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Medicine, Section of Animal Physiology and Behaviour, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70121 Bari, Italy
Interests: animal behaviour; animal physiology; brain functional lateralization
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Marcello Siniscalchi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Animal Physiology and Behavior Unit, Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70121 Bari, Italy
Interests: animal physiology; behavioral neuroscience; brain lateralization; emotion; animal communication; human–animal relationship
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

During the last few decades, studies on visual, acoustic, olfactory and tactile signals have significantly contributed to our knowledge about how animals communicate with individuals belonging to the same species or different ones. Communication occurs between a sender and receiver and involves the transfer of information from one animal to another regarding the social and physical environment. It includes the transfer of emotional information, which regulates social interactions and strengthens bonds between different subjects. This specific aspect has recently received growing interest in the study of human–animal relationships.

To date, the senders’ behavioural expressions of communicative signals have received widespread attention. On the contrary, the physiological and behavioural changes they produce in the receiver remain less investigated. The aim of this Special Issue is to collect both original reviews and research papers on the different aspects of communication, with a particular focus on the changes that the communicative signals produce in the receiver (behavioural but also physiological responses) and the effect of the interchange of social and emotional information between the sender and receiver. Studies on animal communication with both conspecifics and with humans are welcome as well as studies on the mechanism of the perception and processing of communicative signals in animal species.

Dr. Serenella D'Ingeo
Prof. Dr. Angelo Quaranta
Prof. Dr. Marcello Siniscalchi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Animal communication
  • Animal behaviour
  • Communicative signals
  • Animal emotions
  • Cognitive ethology
  • Physiology of communication
  • Human–animal communication
  • Human–animal relationships

Published Papers (4 papers)

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15 pages, 1113 KiB  
Article
Context-Dependent Gestural Laterality: A Multifactorial Analysis in Captive Red-Capped Mangabeys
by Juliette Aychet, Noémie Monchy, Catherine Blois-Heulin and Alban Lemasson
Animals 2022, 12(2), 186; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12020186 - 13 Jan 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1861
Abstract
Catarrhine primates gesture preferentially with their right hands, which led to the hypothesis of a gestural origin of human left-hemispheric specialization for language. However, the factors influencing this gestural laterality remain understudied in non-hominoid species, particularly in intraspecific contexts, although it may bring [...] Read more.
Catarrhine primates gesture preferentially with their right hands, which led to the hypothesis of a gestural origin of human left-hemispheric specialization for language. However, the factors influencing this gestural laterality remain understudied in non-hominoid species, particularly in intraspecific contexts, although it may bring valuable insights into the proximate and ultimate causes of language lateralization. We present here a preliminary investigation of intraspecific gestural laterality in catarrhine monkeys, red-capped mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus). We described the spontaneous production of brachio-manual intentional gestures in twenty-five captive subjects. Although we did not evidence any significant gestural lateralization neither at the individual- nor population-level, we found that mangabeys preferentially use their right hands to gesture in negative social contexts, such as aggressions, suggesting an effect of emotional lateralization, and that they adapt to the position of their receiver by preferentially using their ipsilateral hand to communicate. These results corroborate previous findings from ape studies. By contrast, factors related to gesture form and socio-demographic characteristics of signaler and receiver did not affect gestural laterality. To understand better the relationships between gestural laterality and brain lateralization from an evolutionary perspective, we suggest that the gestural communication of other monkey species should be examined with a multifactorial approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Animal Communication)
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12 pages, 248 KiB  
Article
Effects of Dog-Assisted Therapies on Cognitive Mnemonic Capabilities in People Affected by Alzheimer’s Disease
by Fausto Quintavalla, Simona Cao, Diana Spinelli, Paolo Caffarra, Fiammetta M. Rossi, Giuseppina Basini and Alberto Sabbioni
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1366; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051366 - 11 May 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4273
Abstract
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in humans and, currently, a valid treatment is lacking. Our goal is to demonstrate the importance and benefits of the relationship with companion animals (considered as co-therapists), intended as a means of facilitating [...] Read more.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in humans and, currently, a valid treatment is lacking. Our goal is to demonstrate the importance and benefits of the relationship with companion animals (considered as co-therapists), intended as a means of facilitating social relations and promoting evident wellbeing in AD patients. The study involved 30 randomly chosen patients with Alzheimer’s disease (group T) and three dogs. The group participated in a total of 24 animal-assisted interventions (AAIs) sessions over a span of 12 weeks, using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Wellness and Cognitive Ability Questionnaire (Brief Assessment Cognition or BAC), and Alzheimer’s Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) as assessment tests. A second group (group C), consisting of 10 people with AD, was enrolled as control group and underwent the same assessment tests but did not benefit from the presence of the dogs. Tests were carried out at time T0 (before starting sessions), T1 (end of sessions), and T2 (two months after last session). People belonging to group T achieved an overall improvement in their perceived state of wellbeing, even on a cognitive and mnemonic plane. However, two months after the end of the sessions, the test results in people suffering from AD decreased towards the baseline (T0). The study shows how such progress can be achieved through activities based on the relationship with an animal, as long as the animal is a steady presence in the life of the patient receiving the intervention. Dogs involved in other dog-assisted therapies have been found suitable also for assisting patients with AD. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Animal Communication)
21 pages, 1422 KiB  
Article
The Ultimate List of the Most Frightening and Disgusting Animals: Negative Emotions Elicited by Animals in Central European Respondents
by Helena Staňková, Markéta Janovcová, Šárka Peléšková, Kristýna Sedláčková, Eva Landová and Daniel Frynta
Animals 2021, 11(3), 747; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030747 - 09 Mar 2021
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4132
Abstract
Animals have always played an important role in our everyday life. They are given more attention than inanimate objects, which have been adaptive during the evolution of mankind, with some animal species still presenting a real threat to us. In this study, we [...] Read more.
Animals have always played an important role in our everyday life. They are given more attention than inanimate objects, which have been adaptive during the evolution of mankind, with some animal species still presenting a real threat to us. In this study, we focused on the species usually evaluated as the scariest and most disgusting in the animal kingdom. We analyzed which characteristics (e.g., weight, potential threat for humans) influence their evaluation in a nonclinical Central European WEIRD population (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic). The tested animals were divided into two separated sets containing 34 standardized photos evoking predominantly one negative emotion, fear or disgust. The pictures were ranked according to their emotional intensity by 160 adult respondents with high inter-rater agreement. The most fear-eliciting species are mostly large vertebrates (e.g., carnivorans, ungulates, sharks, crocodiles), whereas smaller fear-evoking vertebrates are represented by snakes and invertebrates are represented by arachnids. The most disgust-evoking animals are human endo- and ectoparasites or animals visually resembling them. Humans emotionally react to fear-evoking animals that represent a real threat; however, identifying truly dangerous disgust-evoking animals might be harder. The results also support a somewhat special position of snakes and spiders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Animal Communication)
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7 pages, 241 KiB  
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Emotions and Dog Bites: Could Predatory Attacks Be Triggered by Emotional States?
by Serenella d’Ingeo, Fabrizio Iarussi, Valentina De Monte, Marcello Siniscalchi, Michele Minunno and Angelo Quaranta
Animals 2021, 11(10), 2907; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11102907 - 08 Oct 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 9583
Abstract
Dog biting events pose severe public health and animal welfare concerns. They result in several consequences for both humans (including physical and psychological trauma) and the dog involved in the biting episode (abandonment, relocation to shelter and euthanasia). Although numerous epidemiological studies have [...] Read more.
Dog biting events pose severe public health and animal welfare concerns. They result in several consequences for both humans (including physical and psychological trauma) and the dog involved in the biting episode (abandonment, relocation to shelter and euthanasia). Although numerous epidemiological studies have analyzed the different factors influencing the occurrence of such events, to date the role of emotions in the expression of predatory attacks toward humans has been scarcely investigated. This paper focuses on the influence of emotional states on triggering predatory attacks in dogs, particularly in some breeds whose aggression causes severe consequences to human victims. We suggest that a comprehensive analysis of the dog bite phenomenon should consider the emotional state of biting dogs in order to collect reliable and realistic data about bite episodes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Research in Animal Communication)
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