Department of Livestock and One Health, University of Liverpool, Leahurst Campus, Neston, Cheshire, United Kingdom.
Institute of Digital Engineering and Autonomous Systems, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2022 Sep 28;17(9):e0274329. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0274329. eCollection 2022.
Dog aggression is a public health concern because dog bites often lead to physical and psychological trauma in humans. It is also a welfare concern for dogs. To prevent aggressive behaviours, it is important to understand human behaviour towards dogs and our ability to interpret signs of dog aggression. This poses ethical challenges for humans and dogs. The aim of this study was to introduce, describe and pilot test a virtual reality dog model (DAVE (Dog Assisted Virtual Environment)). The Labrador model has two different modes displaying aggressive and non-reactive non-aggressive behaviours. The aggressive behaviours displayed are based on the current understanding of canine ethology and expert feedback. The objective of the study was to test the recognition of dog behaviour and associated human approach and avoidance behaviour. Sixteen university students were recruited via an online survey to participate in a practical study, and randomly allocated to two experimental conditions, an aggressive followed by a non-reactive virtual reality model (group AN) or vice versa (group NA). Participants were instructed to 'explore the area' in each condition, followed by a survey. A Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney U test was used to compare the closest distance to the dog within and between groups respectively. Participants moved overall significantly closer to the non-reactive dog compared to the aggressive dog (p≤0.001; r = 0.8). Descriptions of the aggressive dog given by participants often used motivational or emotional terms. There was little evidence of simulator sickness and presence scores were high indicating sufficient immersion in the virtual environment. Participants appeared to perceive the dog as realistic and behaved and interacted with the dog model in a manner that might be expected during an interaction with a live dog. This study also highlights the promising results for the potential future use of virtual reality in behavioural research (i.e., human-dog interactions), education (i.e. safety around dogs) and psychological treatment (e.g. dog phobia treatment).
犬类攻击行为是一个公共卫生关注点，因为犬咬伤常常会给人类带来身体和心理创伤。它也是犬类福利的关注点。为了预防攻击行为，了解人类对犬类的行为以及我们解读犬类攻击迹象的能力非常重要。这对人类和犬类都提出了伦理挑战。本研究旨在介绍、描述和初步测试一种虚拟现实犬模型（DAVE（犬辅助虚拟环境））。拉布拉多犬模型有两种不同模式，分别展示攻击和非反应性非攻击行为。展示的攻击行为基于犬类行为学的当前理解和专家反馈。该研究的目的是测试对犬类行为的识别以及相关的人类接近和回避行为。通过在线调查招募了 16 名大学生参与实际研究，并随机分配到两种实验条件，即先观看攻击性再观看非反应性虚拟现实模型（组 AN）或反之（组 NA）。参与者被指示在每种条件下“探索该区域”，然后进行调查。使用 Wilcoxon 和 Mann Whitney U 检验分别在组内和组间比较距离犬类最近的距离。与攻击性犬类相比，参与者总体上更接近非反应性犬类（p≤0.001；r = 0.8）。参与者对攻击性犬类的描述经常使用动机或情感术语。几乎没有证据表明有模拟器病，在场分数很高，表明参与者充分沉浸在虚拟环境中。参与者似乎认为狗是真实的，并以可能在与活狗互动时的方式对待和与狗模型互动。本研究还强调了虚拟现实在行为研究（即人与犬互动）、教育（即安全养犬）和心理治疗（例如犬恐惧症治疗）方面的潜在未来应用的有希望的结果。
