Presence of Dogs: Attention and Workload in Animal-Assisted Intervention

The popularity of therapy dog programs on college campuses highlights the growing recognition that dogs can provide valuable support to university students. As researchers have shown, college students frequently report an improved sense of emotional wellbeing after they interact with therapy dogs (Jalongo, 2021. The canine–campus connection: Roles for dogs in the lives of college students. Purdue University Press). Our study extends the research to examine the effects that such interaction can have on attention and cognitive processing. We implemented a converging operations model that integrated both attentional performance measures and workload assessments with self-reported measures of affect. We used Attention Restoration Theory (ART) as a conceptual framework. ART suggests that exposure to nature restores and protects limited attentional reserves. We predicted that, when compared with a control group, experimental participants who interacted with therapy dogs would show enhanced attentional performance and less strenuous cognitive workload. The experimental group received a 20-min exposure to therapy dogs, when they could pet and play with the dogs. The control group viewed a 20-min video of a dog playing and riding in a car. Following these sessions, participants completed the global precedence Navon attention task, followed by a workload assessment using the NASA-TLX. Prior to the 20-min session and immediately following the completion of the workload assessment, participants completed an affect assessment using the Positive and Negative Affect Scale. Participants exposed to therapy dogs showed fewer attentional lapses, fewer workload demands, and greater declines in negative affect compared with the control group. We observed limited correlations between affect, attention, and workload, suggesting the independence of cognitive and emotional benefits from each other. Our findings suggest that ART may serve as a useful theoretical framework in animal-assisted intervention (AAI) research. We propose that the inclusion of attentional and workload measures in future AAI research will yield valuable insights.