Psychophysiological and emotional effects during interactions with a dog by activity type: An electroencephalogram study

This study compared the psychophysiological and emotional responses during diverse activities with a dog to understand the impact of activity type. This study included 30 healthy adults. Participants performed eight different activities with a dog for 3 minutes each. Brain waves in the prefrontal, frontal, parietal, and occipital lobes were measured during the activities. Subjective evaluation of their emotions was recorded after each activity via the Profile of Mood States, Semantic Differential Method, and Stress Numeric Rating Scale. Brain wave analysis was performed using Bioteck Analysis Software (Bioteck; Daejeon, South Korea). The collected raw EEG data were analyzed for relative alpha (RA), relative slow alpha (RSA), relative fast alpha (RFA), relative beta (RB), relative low beta (RLB), and relative mid beta (RMB) power spectra. Descriptive statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 25 for Windows (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). For the EEG and subjective evaluation data, a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Duncan’s post-hoc analysis were used to compare each activity. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. This study was approved by the Institutional Bioethics Committee of Konkuk University (7001355-202201-HR-504).