ArticlePloS one2014
Patterns of brain activation when mothers view their own child and dog: an fMRI study.
Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurofunctional topography of the human hippocampus.Human brain mapping · 2015Pooled it
- Meta-Analysis of the RDoC Social Processing Domain across Units of Analysis in Children and Adolescents.Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53Pooled it
- Parental brain responses to own and unknown children's emotional facial expressions: An fMRI study.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2026Article
- Specific Neural Mechanisms Underlying Humans' Processing of Information Related to Companion Animals: A Comparison with Domestic Animals and Objects.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Social reward responsiveness as a moderator of the association between perceived bonding with infants and depressive symptoms in postpartum women.Cognitive, affective & behavioral neuroscience · 2025Article
- From kin to canines: understanding modern dog keeping from both biological and cultural evolutionary perspectives.Biologia futura · 2025Review
- Grandmaternal caregiving is associated with a distinct multi-voxel neural representation of grandchildren in the parental motivation circuit.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2025Article
- Mechanisms of Social Attachment Between Children and Pet Dogs.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Review
- Intergenerational Transmission of Human Parenting Styles to Human-Dog Relationships.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Pet attachment and prosocial attitude toward humans: the mediating role of empathy to animals.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Cognitive mechanisms and neurological foundations of companion animals' role in enhancing human psychological well-being.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Review
- The Power of Discourse: Associations between Trainers' Speech and the Responses of Socialized Wolves and Dogs to Training.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- The construct of cuteness: A validity study for measuring content and evoked emotions on social media.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Oxytocin levels and self-reported anxiety during interactions between humans and cows.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Personality descriptions influence perceived cuteness of children and nurturing motivation toward them.PloS one · 2023Article
- Stronger brain activation for own baby but similar activation toward babies of own and different ethnicities in parents living in a multicultural environment.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Motherhood and theory of mind: increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex and insulae.Social cognitive and affective neuroscience · 2022Article
- Bonded by nature: Humans form equally strong and reciprocated bonds with similar raised dogs and wolves.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Pet ownership is associated with greater cognitive and brain health in a cross-sectional sample across the adult lifespan.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Article
- Why do mothers never stop grieving for their deceased children? Enduring alterations of brain connectivity and function.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Neural substrates underlying the human-pet relationship are largely unknown. We examined fMRI brain activation patterns as mothers viewed images of their own child and dog and an unfamiliar child and dog. There was a common network of brain regions involved in emotion, reward, affiliation, visual processing and social cognition when mothers viewed images of both their child and dog. Viewing images of their child resulted in brain activity in the midbrain (ventral tegmental area/substantia nigra involved in reward/affiliation), while a more posterior cortical brain activation pattern involving fusiform gyrus (visual processing of faces and social cognition) characterized a mother's response to her dog. Mothers also rated images of their child and dog as eliciting similar levels of excitement (arousal) and pleasantness (valence), although the difference in the own vs. unfamiliar child comparison was larger than the own vs. unfamiliar dog comparison for arousal. Valence ratings of their dog were also positively correlated with ratings of the attachment to their dog. Although there are similarities in the perceived emotional experience and brain function associated with the mother-child and mother-dog bond, there are also key differences that may reflect variance in the evolutionary course and function of these relationships.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.