02169nas a2200253   4500008004100000022001400041245010400055210006900159260001600228300001100244490000600255520132100261653002501582653001501607653001101622653001501633653002301648653001501671100002701686700002401713700002801737700002501765856012501790       2019                        eng d  a2054-570300aPawsitively sad: pet-owners are more sensitive to negative emotion in animal distress vocalizations0 aPawsitively sad petowners are more sensitive to negative emotion  cJun-08-2021  a1815550 v63 a<p>Pets have numerous, effective methods to communicate with their human hosts. Perhaps most conspicuous of these are distress vocalizations: in cats, the &lsquo;miaow&rsquo; and in dogs, the &lsquo;whine&rsquo; or &lsquo;whimper&rsquo;. We compared a sample of young adults who owned cats and or dogs (&lsquo;pet-owners&rsquo; n = 264) and who did not (n=297) on their ratings of the valence of animal distress vocalizations, taken from a standardized database of sounds. We also examined these participants&rsquo; self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, and their scores on a measure of interpersonal relationship functioning. Pet-owners rated the animal distress vocalizations as sadder than adults who did not own a pet. Cat-owners specifically gave the most negative ratings of cat miaows compared with other participants, but were no different in their ratings of other sounds. Dog sounds were rated more negatively overall, in fact as negatively as human baby cries. Pet-owning adults (cat only, dog only, both) were not significantly different from adults with no pets on symptoms of depression, anxiety or on self- reported interpersonal relationship functioning. We suggest that pet ownership is associated with greater sensitivity to negative emotion in cat and dog distress vocalizations.</p>
10aanimal vocalizations10acat miaows10acrying10adog whines10aemotion perception10apet-owners1 aParsons, Christine, E.1 aLeBeau, Richard, T.1 aKringelbach, Morten, L.1 aYoung, Katherine, S.  uhttps://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.181555https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.181555