Dogs can tell if you're scared or sad
fMRI scans show happiness, fear, anger, and sadness have distinct brain activity patterns in doggy brains.
Dogs have the ability to discern when a human is experiencing fear or sadness, according to a recent study published in the journal iScience. Researchers at the University of Vienna identified a specific brain region in dogs that processes positive human facial expressions, such as a smile. The study also revealed that dogs can distinguish between negative facial expressions, including anger, sadness, and fear.
Co-author Raúl Hernández-Pérez explained that humans excel at picking up subtle facial cues, and dogs possess similar abilities. By examining the dogs' brains, scientists can gain insight into the adaptations that enable their exceptional social and emotional understanding of humans. Previous behavioral studies have demonstrated that dogs are sensitive to human emotions through facial expressions.
In such studies, dogs preferred a box identified by a human with a happy expression over one with fear or disgust. Additionally, fMRI studies have shown that the canine left temporal cortex exhibits a stronger response to human faces compared to dog faces. Furthermore, the caudate, hippocampus, and amygdala showed a greater response to human faces expressing emotion as opposed to neutral faces.
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