Do Animals Perceive Human Developmental Disabilities? Guinea Pigs’ Behaviour with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Children with Typical Development. A Pilot Study
Open Access
- 2 August 2019
- Vol. 9 (8), 522
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ani9080522
Abstract
Some cues used by humans and animals during human-animal interactions may have significant effects, modulating these interactions (e.g., gaze direction, heart rate). This study aimed to determine whether an animal in human-animal interactions is capable of “perceiving” its human partner’s potential developmental “disabilities”. To test this hypothesis, we studied guinea pigs (GP) behaviours in the presence of 44 6-to-12-year-old children with either typical development (TD children) or with autism spectrum disorders (ASD children). Thus, we recorded the GP behaviours during the entire session (to establish their time budget) and focused in particular on the onset and end of physical interactions. The GP behaviours (e.g., feeding, resting, self-grooming, exploring) were not significantly different between the two groups of children during the whole session. GP behaviours in the presence of children differed slightly when encountering ASD children versus TD children: more positive behaviours toward ASD children at the onset, more feeding and resting in the presence of TD children toward the end of an interaction. TD children showed longer-lasting interactions. One could explain this by GP curiosity toward ASD children behaviours (e.g., no marked behaviours such as attempts to touch), whereas GPs seemed calmer at the end with TD children (i.e., interacting with ASD children may be a little stressful). This partly gave support to our study’s hypothesis. GPs seemed to perceive developmental disabilities during a first encounter with children and to adjust their behaviours to that of children. We discuss the issues of animal training, animals’ well-being and acute stress, whether they are pets or used in animal-assisted interventions. Further studies (on pets or animal-assisted interventions) are warranted.Keywords
This publication has 51 references indexed in Scilit:
- Regulation of red fluorescent light emission in a cryptic marine fishFrontiers in Zoology, 2014
- Social Behaviors Increase in Children with Autism in the Presence of Animals Compared to ToysPLOS ONE, 2013
- Unusual fears in children with autismResearch in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2013
- Horses’ responses to variation in human approachApplied Animal Behaviour Science, 2011
- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental DisordersPsychiatry Research, 2011
- Reinforcement as a mediator of the perception of humans by horses (Equus caballus)Animal Cognition, 2010
- Autism: A world changing too fast for a mis-wired brain?Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 2009
- Visual Abilities and Sensory Differences in a Person with AutismBiological Psychiatry, 2009
- Infant and toddler oral‐ and manual‐motor skills predict later speech fluency in autismJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2007
- Repetitive and stereotyped behaviours in pervasive developmental disordersJournal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2006