Humans vs. dogs: How are their facial expressions processed? Study reveals

Humans and dogs go way back in time. Dogs are the first animals to get domesticated by humans. The relationship of camaraderie, love, friendship and loyalty shared by humans and dogs is extremely beautiful. However, do humans perceive emotions of dogs and humans the same way? A recent study published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience explored this. Also read | 8 reasons why dogs and humans share a deep emotional connection

The study was done to understand how emotions and expressions are processed by humans, and is there a similarity in understanding the expressions of both humans and dogs. Study author Miiamaaria Kujala, an adjunct professor in comparative cognitive neuroscience at the University of Jyväskylä, said, “We had comparative, social cognitive, and methodological motivations for this study. Humans have sophisticated neural processing machinery for perceiving faces, and we wanted to explore how the human brain’s processing of human and dog facial expressions proceeds in time, during the first half a second of perception. Furthermore, as empathy affects the subjective experience of others’ emotional expressions, we asked if this may influence how well we are able to predict the individual brain responses with machine-learning procedures.”

Findings of the study:

The study was conducted on 15 healthy adult participants, averaging 28 years old, with normal or corrected-to-normal vision, and varying levels of familiarity with dogs. These participants were exposed to multiple pictures of humans and dogs with varying expressions of happiness, anger and aggression. Faces depicting neutral expressions were also added. Their brain activity was recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG). The researchers observed that humans process expressions of humans and dogs in similar ways. Also read | Want to have a deeper connection with your pet dog? Study says gaze into their eyes

Empathy and emotions:

Empathy played a key role. People with higher levels of empathy demonstrated better accuracy in understanding the emotions behind the expressions. This proves that empathetic individuals are more attuned to emotional cues, with better understanding of the emotionally significant stimuli. Also read | 5 ways a dog says ‘thank you’ to humans

Miiamaaria Kujala told PsyPost, “Empathic people have heightened attention for emotional information, which likely showed in our results—their brain responses were likewise clearer for the algorithm to detect differences between categories.”

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and not a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the advice of your doctor with any questions about a medical condition.