Many a times when a dog gazes into its owner's eyes, the owner wonders if the dog is feeling affection for him, or just interested in what's on his plate.

Science Magazine has reported that a new study, conducted by researchers in Japan, has thrown some light on this question.

The study has revealed that dogs and humans share a similar hormonal response when they look at each other. It is the same response that humans feel when they look at their infants.

Takefumi Kikusui, an animal behaviorist at Azabu University, said, "I love my dogs, and I always feel that they're more of a partner than a pet. So I started wondering, 'Why are they so close to humans? Why are they connected so tightly to us"?

To find out the reasons, Kikusui studied oxytocin, the 'love hormone' that plays a role in maternal bonding.

Previous research has shown that when mothers and their babies gaze at each other, it creates a 'positive feedback loop' in which the mother releases oxytocin, and causes the infant to stare back and release oxytocin, and so on.

As humans and dogs often interact while looking into each other's eyes, Kikusui decided to test whether this same effect happens in dogs.

During the study, his team brought in 30 subjects and their pets. Researchers collected urine from them, and asked each human-dog pair to go into a room and interact for 30 minutes. Following it, the team collected second urine samples, and did the comparison between the two.

Researchers found that in the pairs that spent the most time looking at each other, dogs experienced a 130% rise in oxytocin levels, whereas their owners experienced a 300% increase.

They mentioned that pairs who spent little time gazing at each other didn't show any increase in oxytocin.

The study findings suggested that the same feedback loop seen in humans and infants is also present in humans and dogs.