Balancing skill against difficulty - behavior, heart rate and heart rate variability of shelter dogs during two different introductions of an interactive game
Authors: Arhant Christine , Altrichter Bernadette , Lehenbauer Sandra , Waiblinger Susanne , Schmied-Wagner Claudia , Yee Jason 
Published: November 2019

Interactive games may boost positive well-being by combining the benefits of rewards with cognitive and social enrichment. While a gradual introduction to the game can promote greater learning and skill, a hasty introduction can lead to low success and frustration. Here, we examine two methods of introducing an interactive game to dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) to test whether they elicit differences in success rate, stress-related behavior, and autonomic regulation of the heart.

Twenty-eight dogs living in shelters were given the opportunity to play with an interactive game that consists of four boxes with different opening mechanisms. Dogs were introduced to the interactive game in one of two ways: gradually vs hastily. Gradual introduction consisted of allowing the dog to first play a partial (2 out of 4 boxes) version of the game with a human experimenter demonstrating the opening mechanism of the boxes twice, followed by exposure to the complete game. Hasty introduction consisted of the same procedures but presented in a different order, with the complete game presented before the partial version. Dog behavior was obtained via video recordings and pre- and post-game mean HR, RMSSD, SDNN, RMSSD/SDNN ratio were assessed using R-R intervals obtained with a Polar heart rate monitor (RS800CX). Linear mixed effects analyses (LMM) were calculated for success and behavior component scores and for change from pre- to post-game period in HR & HRV variables. In addition, HR and HRV parameters were analyzed with Pearson correlations.

Dogs introduced to the game in a gradual manner had a significantly higher rate of success compared to dogs introduced in a hasty manner (LMM: p < 0.001). Dogs introduced to the game gradually also displayed less stress related-behavior, e.g. displaying lower scores for the arousal (p < 0.001) and displacement (p < 0.001) components. Correlation analysis revealed a negative correlation between HR and RMSSD during baseline in all dogs (pre-game, day 1: gradual: r = −0.52; hasty: r = −0.72) that gradually transformed into a strong positive correlation in the gradual introduction group (post-game, day 2: r = 0.78), whereas it remained negative over all evaluation periods in the hasty introduction group (post-game, day 2: r = −0.83).

Overall, our findings on success rate, dog behavior, and HR/HRV suggest that the way a moderately difficult game is introduced plays a major role in determining how the experience of game play is perceived. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that gradual introduction including demonstration promotes an enjoyable experience characterized by greater likelihood of reward, less stress-related behavior, and a physiological profile that may involve activation of both sympathetic and parasympathetic branches of the autonomic nervous system. We suggest that this may be a physiologic signature of successful achievement and that a learning experience in which skills are balanced against difficulty promote pleasant emotional states.