THE SCIENCE BEHIND MANS RELATIONSHIP WITH DOGS

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THE SCIENCE BEHIND MANS RELATIONSHIP WITH DOGS
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• Scientists have recently completed research that
  shows the similarities between canine brains, and
  human ones. Mans best friend, the dog, has been
  proven to use similar brain mechanisms to humans,
  when processing social information. So, there is
  substance to the enduring relationship between
  humans and dogs, and here is a little more
  information about the finer details of the
  studies
• What exactly has science discovered?
• The canine brain is acutely sensitive to vocal
  emotions in human voices, just as we are. In one
  of the first studies to compare human brains with
  animals not including primates, evidence has been
  uncovered to show that there is a

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• dedicated area of a dogs brain, for listening to
  voices and recognizing the difference in
  emotional tones. The canine brain then goes on to
  respond the acoustic clues it has been given in
  the sound of the voice, in much the same way as
  humans.
• More about the study
• For this most recent scientific study, experts
  trained 11 dogs to lie without moving while they
  underwent an MRI to scan their brains. In doing
  so, the scientists were able to run the exact
  same neuroimaging experiments on dogs and humans,
  and this had never been accomplished before.

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• The canine and human participants of the study,
  listened to the same range of sounds created by
  both, such as crying, barking, howling or
  laughing, and they found that both sets of brains
  have dedicated voice areas in similar spots in
  the brain.
• It was found that while dogs did respond more to
  the sounds made by other dogs, and humans did the
  same to the sound of their own voices, the way
  both sets of brains reacted were startlingly
  akin, particularly when compared to other species.

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• What else did the study show?
• As much as we all want to believe that our
  beloved furry friends truly do love us, we now
  have some evidence that they can genuinely
  experience feelings of love and affection towards
  In another study, there were found to be
  similarities in dogs and humans brains when
  responding to positive emotions.
• With the use of hand gestures to help a dog
  realise when they were about to be given a treat,
  researchers discovered that dogs and humans
  shared a similar response in an area of the brain
  associated with positive emotions, called the
  caudate nucleus.

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• What does this study aim to show us?
• The previous line of thought was that a dog would
  respond positively to the prospect of a treat,
  simply because it was a treat. They were excited
  at receiving food, and it didnt matter who they
  were receiving it from. But neuroscientists hope
  that their studies will show that dogs love us
  for so much more than the food that we give them,
  that they can show love for many of the same
  things that humans love us for, such as comfort,
  love and companionship.
• For most of us who love dogs for myriad reasons,
  we dont really care whether they truly do love
  us back, but we want so much to believe it.

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• With the help of science, we can now be a little
  firmer in our beliefs, and in time, we may even
  go on to understand more about our best friends,
  leading to even deeper connections and
  relationships between us both.
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