Dogs have been our companions for thousands of years, but how much do they actually care about our faces? Recent studies have revealed some fascinating insights into how our canine friends perceive us, and the results might not be what dog owners want to hear.
What the Research Tells Us
According to a 2020 study published in the Journal of Neuroscience and reported by NBC News, dogs aren’t actually wired to focus specifically on human faces. The Hungarian scientists who conducted the research used MRI scans to observe brain activity in both humans and dogs while they watched videos of humans and dogs.
The results showed that while humans have specialized brain regions that activate when viewing faces, dogs don’t show the same neural response. Instead, dogs’ brains become more active when they see other dogs rather than humans.
Dr. Attila Andics, the study co-author and animal behavior researcher at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, explained: “Faces are central to human visual communication… and human brains are also specialized for faces.” But this doesn’t appear to be the case for dogs.
Dogs do pay attention to human faces and can read emotions from them, but they use many other signals like body language and voice cues to understand us. For humans, facial expressions are primary, but for dogs, they’re just one piece of information among many.
Contradictory Findings
However, a different study published in PLOS One and highlighted by Psychology Today presents contradictory findings. This research involved seven dogs (five Border Collies, a Labrador Retriever, and a Golden Retriever) who underwent fMRI scanning while being shown photos of people and objects.
The researchers found that when dogs viewed human faces, there was increased activity in their temporal lobe – an area associated with facial recognition in humans and other animals. Additionally, brain regions linked to rewards and emotions (the caudate and thalamus) showed more activity when dogs saw human faces compared to objects.
This study suggests that dogs might indeed recognize human faces in ways similar to how humans and other social mammals do. The researchers noted that dogs are unique in the Canidae family for their ability to recognize human faces without training.
How Dogs Perceive Us
Despite the conflicting research, there are some points of agreement:
- Dogs are extremely attentive to human social cues
- They can detect when we’re smiling
- They spend more time examining new faces than familiar ones
- They’re better at detecting human facial cues than even chimpanzees
- Dogs look to human faces for clues when they can’t solve problems (while wolves don’t)
Dr. Carlo Siracusa, an associate professor of clinical behavior medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, explains that from an evolutionary standpoint, dogs rely on multiple forms of communication: “They use other ways of communicating such as ear position — which can be seen from the front and from behind. The ear position will tell about the mood of the dog. We humans don’t move our ears.”
Dogs also rely heavily on scent for communication – much more than humans do. The scent of another dog provides crucial information about whether that dog might be of interest.
Why Dogs Pay Attention to Our Faces
Even if dogs don’t process faces the same way we do, they’ve evolved to pay attention to human faces because they depend on us. As Dr. Siracusa puts it: “They try to understand from facial expressions what humans want. How likely is it they are going to get something to eat rather than be punished. They are like toddlers.”
Dr. Katherine Houpt from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine offers some reassurance to dog owners who might feel disappointed by these findings: “Your dog loves all of you, not just your pretty face.”
The Bigger Picture
The conflicting research highlights how complex dog cognition truly is. While one study suggests dogs don’t have specialized brain regions for facial recognition like humans do, another indicates they do process human faces in meaningful ways.
What seems clear is that dogs are uniquely attuned to humans compared to other animals. They’ve co-evolved with us over thousands of years, developing special abilities to read and respond to human cues – whether those come from our faces, bodies, voices, or scents.
So next time your dog seems to recognize you, remember they’re likely using a combination of cues – your face may be just one part of how they know their beloved human.
In the end, whether or not your dog is fascinated by your face specifically doesn’t change the deep bond you share. They love you wholly – face, voice, smell and all.
Researchers finds dogs’ brains don’t respond any differently to faces than to the backs of heads
Dogs arent biologically attuned to faces in the same way that humans are, a new study has found — but scientists say they work hard to read our expressions anyway.
Researchers in Hungary found that dogs simply arent wired to respond to faces. When shown pictures or videos of faces, their brains simply dont light up the way a human brain does.
In fact, to a dogs brain, it makes no difference whether theyre looking us dead in the eyes or at the back of our heads.
“I wouldnt say that dogs [are] not interested in our face,” the studys lead author Attila Andics told As It Happens host Carol Off. “What we say is just that they dont respond to faces stronger than to other kinds of stimuli.”
The study was published Monday in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Can Dogs Recognize Facial Expressions? Explained
FAQ
Do dogs pay attention to human faces?
While human brains are specialized for faces and we use them for visual communication, dogs do pay attention to human faces, according to Attila Andics, an animal behavior researcher. However, dogs’ interest in faces is not as strong as humans’.
Can dogs see human faces?
While dogs may notice our faces and even the expressions on them, they rely more on other cues like body language and voice to understand human behavior. In contrast, humans primarily rely on facial expressions. The dogs in the study were trained to stay motionless during the scans.
Can dogs recognize faces without training?
Dogs are the only members in the Canidae family that can recognize faces of people without training. Dogs can tell when we are smiling or not and are able to notice differences between two faces, something that even primates like Japanese monkeys aren’t able to do. Dogs also spend more time examining new faces compared to familiar faces.
Are dogs more sensitive to human facial expressions?
They concluded that dogs are more sensitive to changes in facial expressions of other dogs, but that dogs did show different responses to the positive, negative, or neutral expressions of humans, too. Dogs are so focused on our faces that they respond differently when they cannot see us. In another experiment, a dog was placed alone in a room.
Do dogs recognize facial expressions?
Your dog, like generations of dogs before her, has developed the ability to recognize and respond to changes in your facial expressions. As most pet owners acknowledge, our dogs recognize our facial expressions. A frown tells a pup something is amiss and a smile makes his tail wag. Now, there is scientific evidence to validate our observations.
What do dogs look at instead of faces?
Dr. Katherine Houpt also wasn’t surprised by the new findings. “We always look at people’s faces, but dogs look at all of us,” said Houpt, a professor emeritus at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine.
What do dogs see when they look at humans?
Dogs see humans as a combination of their scent, voice, and body movements, not just their faces, which appear as blurry outlines due to their nearsightedness and color vision limited to blues and yellows. Dogs recognize humans by their overall presence and rely on a broader approach to social cues than humans. They also perceive basic emotions through body language, helping them form bonds with their human companions.
How long can a dog remember a person’s face?
That said, most researchers believe dogs can remember important people and significant events in their lives for years, perhaps until death. So, yes, your dog remembers your scent, your face (especially your eyes), and your voice and associates them with happiness, love or snuggling, or maybe just with food.
Can dogs tell when you’re smiling?
Yes, dogs can recognize human smiles, as studies show they can distinguish between positive and neutral facial expressions and often respond positively to them. Dogs have evolved to be highly attuned to human facial cues and body language, using them to understand emotions, which contributes to a stronger bond between them and their owners.
How long does 1 hour feel to a dog?