Abstract

Objective

This preliminary study suggests a way to artificially extend vibrissae of blind dogs to assist ambulation and avoiding facial contact with obstacles.

Procedures

Fourteen irreversibly blind dogs had 5–6 mystacial vibrissae on each side of the face supplementally extended by attaching carefully chosen adult pig hairs to them and were subjected to a maze test before and after the procedure. In three of these dogs the test was repeated one more time after all the extensions had fallen off. Collision counts and course times with and without extensions were analyzed and compared. A p-value > 0.05 was considered significant.

Results

Median number of collisions was significantly higher post-extensions (5 IQR 2.25) and after extensions had fallen off (4 IQR 7.50) compared to pre-extensions (1 IQR 1), p = 0.021. Median times were significantly higher pre-extension (25.6 IQR 8.98) and after the extensions had fallen off, compared to the post-extension performance (22.8 IQR 8.55), p = 0.04.

Conclusion

Vibrissae play an important role in the tactile perception of blind dogs, and our preliminary results suggest that extending this sensory organ possibly improves obstacle location and their quality of life.

中文翻译：

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补充性触须延伸作为提高盲犬触觉敏感性的替代方案——初步方法调查

摘要

客观的

这项初步研究提出了一种人工延长盲犬触须的方法，以帮助其行走并避免面部与障碍物接触。

程序

14 只不可逆失明的狗在脸部两侧各有 5-6 个神秘触须，通过将精心挑选的成年猪毛附着在它们上来补充延伸，并在手术前后进行迷宫测试。在其中三只狗的所有延伸物都脱落后，又重复了一次测试。分析和比较了有和没有延长的碰撞次数和路线时间。p值 > 0.05 被认为是显着的。

结果

与延伸前 (1 IQR 1) 相比，延伸后 (5 IQR 2.25) 和延伸脱落后 (4 IQR 7.50) 的碰撞中位数明显更高，p  = 0.021。与伸展后的表现（22.8 IQ​​R 8.55）相比，伸展前（25.6 IQR 8.98）和伸展下降后的中位时间显着更高，p  = 0.04。

结论

触须在盲犬的触觉感知中发挥着重要作用，我们的初步结果表明，扩展这种感觉器官可能会改善障碍物的位置及其生活质量。