Influence of Dogs on Learning in Children

Swiss Tropical & Public Health Institute30 enrolled

Overview

In a randomised controlled cross-over study, the influence of interacting with a dog on children's learning performance is investigated.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

SINGLE

Enrollment

Conditions

Learning Human-animal Interaction

Interventions

Human-dog interactionOTHER

The tests are completed in the presence of a dog. Further, before starting the tests, the children have 15 minutes to interact with the present dog.

Stuffed toy dogOTHER

The tests are completed in the presence of a stuffed toy dog. Further, before starting the tests, the children have 15 minutes to play with the stuffed toy dog.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 7 YearsMax age: 14 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * healthy * 7 - 14 years old * willingness to participate Exclusion Criteria: * medical or psychiatric diagnosis * medication * allergia (dogs) * phobia (dogs)

Locations (1)

Unnamed facility

Aachen, Germany

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

VLMT (Verbaler Lern- und Merkfähigkeitstest)

Number of remembered items within the test

Time frame: 20 Minutes

Secondary Outcomes

Digit Span (from HAWIK-IV)

Number of remembered items (auditively presented numbers)

Time frame: 5 Minutes

motoric task (from Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children, dt. Version (K-ABC))

Number of remembered items (visually presented gestures) that can be reproduced.

Time frame: 5 Minutes

Heart rate/heart rate variability

Time frame: 60 Minutes

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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