Science AI Journal
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Research topic

Open research questions in Human-Animal Interaction Studies

105 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 1,956 Human-Animal Interaction Studies papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • The study possesses several notable strengths. By incorporating both physiological and subjective measures, it provides a more comprehensive understanding of children’s anxiety responses than would be possible with either indicator alone. The inclusion of a comparison group strengthens the interpretability of the findings, allowing clear distinctions between changes observed in the presence of a therapy dog and those occurring under standard clinical care. Importantly, all procedures were carried out in real dental conditions rather than controlled laboratory environments, enhancing ecological validity and capturing the practical realities of paediatric dental treatment. The integration of qualitative feedback from children and their parents further enriches the dataset, offering insight into lived experiences and the broader emotional context surrounding the dental visit. At the same time, several limitations should be acknowledged. Although heart rate was assessed at three standardised time points, the relatively short duration of most dental procedures (typically around 15 min) limited the feasibility of finer-grained temporal segmentation of physiological responses during treatment. The present study employed a non-randomised design, which raises the possibility of selection bias and limits causal inference. In addition, the control group did not receive an active control intervention (e.g., alternative distraction or supportive activity), which further limits the ability to isolate the specific effects of dog-assisted therapy from general contextual or attentional influences. Future studies should include control groups with comparable baseline anxiety levels and collect the full range of outcome measures across all groups to allow for more robust and internally valid comparisons. Although each group included 30 participants, this sample size may have been insufficient to detect small withingroup changes in heart rate, particularly given the high variability typically observed in paediatric physiological responses. The research was also conducted in a single clinical setting with one therapy dog team, which may limit generalisability to other clinics or contexts.

    Dog-assisted therapy in paediatric dentistry: physiological, psychological, and family-centred benefits in managing child dental anxiety · 2026 · DOI

  • Any conceptual links between EAT participation and broader participation-related constructs should remain tentative and should be examined in future research using validated and comprehensive assessment tools.

    Parent-reported behavioral changes following equine-assisted therapy in children with autism spectrum disorder: a single-group longitudinal study · 2026 · DOI

  • 29 30 Interpretation consistent with results, balancing benefits and harms, and considering other relevant evidence Trial limitations, addressing sources of potential bias, imprecision, generalisability, and, if relevant, multiplicity of analyses N/A N/A SPIRIT example 1: “Participants select activities to engage in with the dog from a 22-item list curated by Pet Partners, an animal-assisted therapy national organisation. The activities are specifically designed by the nonprofit organisation with the goal of helping individuals maintain health or regain their full potential with AAI, and include activities such as petting the dog, talking to the dog, teaching the dog tricks and brushing the dog.”. SPIRIT example 2: “All therapists following this treatment protocol will ensure they meet their legal obligations under the Animal Care and Protection Act 2001 and Australian Code for the Care and use of Animals for Scientific Purposes 2013.”. The example provided below for the CONSORT extension could be improved by stating the not-for-profit status of the service dog foundation. CONSORT example: “The AAT program for this trial was developed by therapists and dog behavioural specialists from the Dutch service dog foundation Stichting Hulphond Nederland and psychologists from the mental health care organization GGZ Oost Brabant who have a specialization in autism. […] The Dutch service dog foundation Stichting Hulphond Nederland provided the therapy dogs.”. Explanation: The accreditation status of the organisation demonstrates its adherence to recognised standards in the field of Animal-Assisted Interventions, ensuring that the intervention aligns with best practices in both human therapy and dog welfare. Accreditation serves as evidence of the organisation’s commitment to quality and professionalism. The non-/for-profit status descriptor helps stakeholders understand the organisation’s motivations and financial structure. For instance, non-profit organisations may prioritise community service and accessibility. For-profit organisations might have commercial interests, requiring scrutiny to ensure that participant and dog welfare are prioritised over profit. SPIRIT 9a: Scientific background and rationale, including summary of relevant studies (published and unpublished) examining benefits and harms for each intervention. CONSORT 6: Scientific background and rationale The following two DAI extensions apply to these SPIRIT and CONSORT items. ➢ Extension for DAI trials: Scientific background and rationale for including a DAI. Shoesmith et al.

    Guidance for protocol content and reporting of dog-assisted interventions in randomised controlled trials: explanation and elaboration of the SPIRIT 2025 and CONSORT 2025 extensions · 2026 · DOI

  • Abstract The covid-19 pandemic, and in particular, the rise in pet ownership, the greater focus on home-life during lockdowns and the normalisation of hybrid-working conditions post-pandemic, has shed light on an under-researched area of law that affects millions of people across the world: the use of ‘no pet’ covenants in private rental housing.

    ‘No Pet’ Covenants and the Law: A Harm Assessment Approach to Regulating Companion Animals in Rental Housing Across the World · 2024 · DOI

  • Cautious optimism about RTD as an impactful intervention to support reading outcomes is suggested, providing impetus for further research of increased quality.

    Reading to Dogs as a form of animal‐assisted education: are positive outcomes supported by quality research? · 2023 · DOI

  • , 2019) verified that people who were socially excluded would use anthropomorphism, but no studies were discovered about the motivations outlined in the current study.

    Behind my pet's shadow: exploring the motives underlying the tendency of socially excluded consumers to anthropomorphize their pets · 2023 · DOI

  • Despite the prevalence of animal companions in the lives of homeless individuals and the established benefits and complications offered by animals during serious illness and end-of-life (EOL), little is known about the experiences of homeless people who have animal companions and chronic illness.

    The Pet Paradox: Uncovering the Role of Animal Companions During the Serious Health Events of People Experiencing Homelessness · 2023 · DOI

  • The effects of animal-assisted therapy (AAT) on human cerebral activity are not clearly understood, although many studies have reported psychological and physiotherapeutic benefits associated with it.

    Stroking a Real Horse Versus Stroking a Toy Horse: Effects on the Frontopolar Area of the Human Brain · 2020 · DOI

  • ConclusionThe lack of evidence for HAB being a buffer between perceived human social support and resilience may partly be due to the curvilinear relationship between the strength of the HAB and perceived human social support.

    Are stronger bonds better? Examining the relationship between the human–animal bond and human social support, and its impact on resilience · 2020 · DOI

  • In general, little is known regarding the specific aspects of QOL that are most affected by dog ownership, and there are no instruments specifically designed to assess the QOL of dog owners.

    Measuring Quality of Life in Owners of Companion Dogs: Development and Validation of a Dog Owner-specific Quality of Life Questionnaire · 2017 · DOI

  • Children are increasingly viewed as important recipients of educational interventions to improve animal welfare, yet research examining their perspectives is lacking, particularly within the UK.

    Exploring Children’s Perspectives on the Welfare Needs of Pet Animals · 2016 · DOI

  • Despite these findings, animal-assisted programs have not impressed many medical and mental health professionals because of inconsistencies in results among studies, lack of standardization in the types of human-animal interactions used, and limited, heterogeneous sample populations (Herzog, 2011; Palle et al.

    Effects of Pet Therapy on the Psychological and Physiological Stress Levels of First-Year Female Undergraduates · 2015

  • Human interactions often provide people with considerable social support, but can pets also fulfill one’s social needs? Although there is correlational evidence that pets may help individuals facing significant life stressors, little is known about the well-being benefits of pets for everyday people.

    Friends with benefits: On the positive consequences of pet ownership. · 2011 · DOI

  • It is unclear to what degree OT reactivity was affected by hormones, personality traits, or interpersonal relationships; factors which warrant further research.

    An Examination of Changes in Oxytocin Levels in Men and Women Before and After Interaction With a Bonded Dog · 2009 · DOI

  • Concern about pet overpopulation and the killing of healthy animals in shelters continues to be high, but little is known about the effectiveness of LES over the past few years.

    The Success of Companion Animal Management Programs: A Review · 1987 · DOI

  • Clearly, much remains to be done, for only during the past few decades has man seriously directed his scientific resources to the end of investigating such questions systematically. But the role of other types of extreme con- ditions, including the psychological, has not been explored very system- 43 C U R A T O R Fig.

    The Study of Animal Behavior: Its History and Relation to the Museum. II · 1959 · DOI

  • An important contribution of this study is the application of a behavioral framework to passive surveillance, an area where empirical evidence remains scarce.

    Trust and professional relationships drive participation in passive cattle health surveillance among Dutch farmers and veterinarians · 2026 · DOI

  • While the present study represents an exploratory analysis, these data can serve as a foundation for further research on polar bear personality in natural and managed care settings.

    Exploring personality assessments of animals in human care: a case study on polar bear ages, hierarchy, and behavior · 2026 · DOI

  • Responsible pet ownership is a social practice that falls within the sociology of human-animal relations, understudied in Latin America and lacking recent data for southern Ecuador.

    Sociología de la tenencia responsable de mascotas en el sur del Ecuador (El Oro) · 2026 · DOI

  • While this limits generaliz- ability, these findings serve to fill a noted gap in literature, providing a more in-depth understanding of educator per- spectives.

    Educator Perspectives on the Integration of Visiting Dogs Into Schools · 2026 · DOI

  • The results demonstrate that, although there is a strong affective bond between children and their pets, there are still significant gaps in knowledge about responsible custody practices, especially regarding preventive medicine, ectoparasite control and the concept of zoonoses.

    AWAKENING TO THE IMPORTANCE OF RESPONSIBLE PET OWNERSHIP AND WELL-BEING FOR CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL · 2026 · DOI

  • Shelter organisations across the British Isles provide care for many cats; however, little is known about the types of housing and husbandry approaches applied.

    Part 1: A Sector-Wide Survey of UK/British Isles Shelter Organisations Caring for Cats: Caregiver-Reported Approaches to Housing, Husbandry and General Care Provision · 2026 · DOI

  • However, currently, scientific standards to guide these decisions are lacking, and frequent reliance on empirical judgment leads to application of subjective criteria for euthanasia.

    A scoring system for euthanasia decisions in rescued raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides): Standardized criteria in wildlife rehabilitation · 2026 · DOI

  • Male dog guardians were underrep- resented, meaning gender-related differences in raw feeding practices remain unclear and may have affected survey findings.

    Insights into the influence of dog and guardian demographics, nutrition, and relationship on raw feeding practices · 2026 · DOI

  • Whilst, the studies in this review have provided some evidence regarding the benefits associated with the application of animal assisted education within a classroom environment, it is apparent that there still exists a significant gap in literature in this area.

    Animal assisted education and social communication competency: systematic literature review · 2024 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Human-Animal Interaction Studies

Most recent work

Find a gap in your own Human-Animal Interaction Studies sub-topic

This page shows what the Human-Animal Interaction Studies literature already flags as unresolved. To narrow it to your specific question, run the guided finder — it searches the gap library on demand and checks candidates against 250M+ OpenAlex works.

Open the Research Gap Finder →

Related topics in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Gut microbiota and health
289 open questions
Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
185 open questions
dental development and anomalies
121 open questions
Mitochondrial Function and Pathology
110 open questions
Genetic Associations and Epidemiology
106 open questions
Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
97 open questions
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
91 open questions
Extracellular vesicles in disease
91 open questions
105 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 1,956 Human-Animal Interaction Studies papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

Tools for your next paper

Gaps & Literature SearchFind open questions in any field — 120,000+ open gaps mined from our own library.Pre-CheckIs your paper ready? A Tier 1–5 acceptance probability in seconds.Journal FinderA ranked shortlist of target journals from a 17,500-venue index.Duplicate Publication CheckerCheck prior-publication & salami-slicing risk across 8 sources.Citation GeneratorFreeA DOI or title → APA, MLA, Vancouver, Chicago, BibTeX, RIS. No signup.Graphical Abstract MakerFreeTurn your findings into a colorblind-safe graphical abstract.

Compare the category — Honest roundups of the AI research tools, ours listed alongside the alternatives.

Command palette

Jump anywhere, run any action.