Sunday, May 6, 2012

Brain Scans Give Glimpse of How Your Dog Thinks

Among the questions that might be studied is whether dogs understand the language of human commands, or respond more to body movements or other cues.

“One of the things we’re interested in is how dogs represent humans: Are we all just a pack to them, like Cesar Millan says? What part of the brain represents humans and other dogs? It could be sound, or scent, or any of those modalities,” Berns said. Dog empathy, and how it compares to the human version, is another possible area of investigation.

“Dog-lovers are convinced their dogs know what they’re feeling. Honestly, I’m on the fence about that. Maybe that’s because of my own dogs,” said Berns. “Skeptics out there — a.k.a. cat people — think dogs are just good actors. I don’t think it’s quite like that. But how far it goes, I’d love to figure out.”


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