Skip to content

Study · Randomized controlled trial · n = 40 · 2024

2 results

Alarm or emotion? intranasal oxytocin helps determine information conveyed by dog barks for adult male human listeners.

Pongrácz P, Lugosi CA, Szávai L, Gengeliczky A, Jégh-Czinege N, Faragó T

BMC ecology and evolution14 Jan 2024

PMID38221611 (opens in a new tab)PMCIDPMC10789012 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1186/s12862-024-02198-2 (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-38221611
Download PDFPubMedAsk about this study
Jump to 2 results

Summary

BackgroundBarks play an important role in interspecific communication between dogs and humans, by allowing a reliable perception of the inner state of dogs for human listeners. However, there is growing concern in society regarding the nuisance that barking dogs cause to the surrounding inhabitants. We assumed that at least in part, this nuisance effect can be explained by particular communicative functions of dog barks. In this study we experimentally tested two separate hypotheses concerning how the content of dog barks could affect human listeners. According to the first hypothesis, barks that convey negative inner states, would especially cause stress in human listeners due to the process called interspecific empathy. Based on the second hypothesis, alarm-type dog barks cause particularly strong stress in the listener, by capitalizing on their specific acoustic makeup (high pitch, low tonality) that resembles to the parameters of a baby's cry. We tested 40 healthy, young adult males in a double-blind placebo controlled experiment, where participants received either intranasal oxytocin or placebo treatment. After an incubation period, they had to evaluate the (1) perceived emotions (happiness, fear and aggression), that specifically created dog bark sequences conveyed to them; and (2) score the annoyance level these dog barks elicited in them.ResultsWe found that oxytocin treatment had a sensitizing effect on the participants' reactions to negative valence emotions conveyed by dog barks, as they evaluated low fundamental frequency barks with higher aggression scores than the placebo-treated participants did. On the other hand, oxytocin treatment attenuated the annoyance that noisy (atonal) barks elicited from the participants.ConclusionsBased on these results, we provide first-hand evidence that dog barks provide information to humans (which may also cause stress) in a dual way: through specific attention-grabbing functions and through emotional understanding.
CC BYText from Europe PMC. Highlighted sentences are the source of results.

Results from this study2

2 results from studies that gave the peptide. 2 results from people.

  1. 01HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy young men, intranasal oxytocin raised aggression scores for low fundamental frequency dog barks compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy young men, oxytocin made low-pitched dog barks sound more aggressive than placebo did.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    IncreaseAggression ratings of low fundamental frequency dog barks
    Study

    n = 40

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Social behavior and cognition · Nervous system and cognition
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    We found that oxytocin treatment had a sensitizing effect on the participants' reactions to negative valence emotions conveyed by dog barks, as they evaluated low fundamental frequency barks with higher aggression scores than the placebo-treated participants did.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    We tested 40 healthy, young adult males in a double-blind placebo controlled experiment, where participants received either intranasal oxytocin or placebo treatment.
  2. 02HumanRandomized controlled trialEfficacy outcome

    In healthy young men, intranasal oxytocin attenuated the annoyance that noisy atonal dog barks elicited, compared with placebo.

    In plain wordsIn healthy young men, oxytocin made noisy dog barks less annoying than placebo did.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseAnnoyance elicited by noisy (atonal) dog barks
    Study

    n = 40

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Anxiety and mood · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated · intranasalAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    On the other hand, oxytocin treatment attenuated the annoyance that noisy (atonal) barks elicited from the participants.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    We tested 40 healthy, young adult males in a double-blind placebo controlled experiment, where participants received either intranasal oxytocin or placebo treatment.

AI wrote and checked these results. AI can make mistakes, so check important results against the source.

Version history

PepBank keeps every version of the data on this study. Status changes from Retraction Watch, Europe PMC and Crossref are listed with their source.

  1. Version 2Current

    11 Oct 2026, 00:50 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:48 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

PepBank is a research reference. Talk to a doctor before you use any peptide.