Literacy is a key factor in occupational success and social integration. However, an increasing number of children lack appropriate reading skills. There is growing evidence that dogs have positive effects on reading performance. We investigated the short-term effects of dogs on reading performance in 36 third-graders and monitored physiological parameters (heart rate, heart rate variability and salivary cortisol) as well as behavioral variables. Each child took part in two test sessions at the presence of a tutor, in one of which a dog and its handler were present. To assess reading performance two reading tests were used: two subtests of the standardized ELFE (“Ein Leseverst?ndnistest für Erst- bis Sechstkl?ssler”), where the children have to carry out time-limited reading tasks, to assess sentence and text comprehension, and Repeated Reading (RR), where the children have to read the same text twice, to assess reading speed and short-term improvement. Although the dog had no effect on reading performance scores, within the first test session the children improved from the first to the second run of RR when a dog was present but not without dog. The behavior of the children indicated a calming effect of the dog in the first test session with less nervous movements and the children being less talkative. We found no impact of the dog on heart rate and heart rate variability. However, the excitement about the dog in combination with the unknown situation in the first test session was reflected in a higher difference in the mean HR difference between the two test sessions for the children, who in the first test session had a dog present, compared to the children, who had the dog in the second test session. In the second test session the children were more aroused with a dog present than with no dog present, as indicated by the area under the curve increase (AUCi) of salivary cortisol values. We conclude that the presence of a dog had a minor short-term positive effect on the children’s motivation and reading performance. More substantial effects could probably be achieved with repeated sessions.
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机译：扫盲是职业成功和社会融合的关键因素。但是，越来越多的儿童缺乏适当的阅读技能。越来越多的证据表明狗对阅读能力有积极影响。我们在36个三年级学生中研究了狗对阅读性能的短期影响，并监测了生理参数（心率，心率变异性和唾液皮质醇）以及行为变量。每个孩子在有老师陪同下参加了两次测试，其中有一只狗和它的处理者在场。为了评估阅读能力，使用了两个阅读测试：标准化ELFE的两个子测试（“ Ein Leseverst？ndnistestfürErstbis Sechstkl？ssler”），孩子们必须执行限时阅读任务，评估句子和文字理解和重复阅读（RR），其中孩子必须阅读两次相同的文本，以评估阅读速度和短期改善。尽管这只狗对阅读成绩没有影响，但是在第一次测试中，当有一只狗但不是没有一只狗时，孩子们从第一次RR运行到第二次RR改善。孩子们的行为表明，在第一次测试中，狗的镇静作用是神经活动减少，孩子们多说话。我们发现狗对心率和心率变异性没有影响。然而，在第一次测试中，狗的兴奋与未知情况相结合，反映出与第一次测试中有狗的孩子的两次测试之间的平均HR差异相比，差异更大。给在第二次测试中养狗的孩子们。在第二次测试中，唾液皮质醇值的曲线下面积（AUCi）表示，患狗的狗比没有患狗的狗更容易被唤醒。我们得出的结论是，狗的出现会对孩子的动机和阅读能力产生短期的积极影响。重复会议可能会取得更大的效果。
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