Scientists—and dog lovers—have long known that dogs are remarkably good at interpreting our laughs, frowns, and tears. But the biology behind this ability has remained largely unexplored until now. In a study published in the Cell Press journal iScience on August 7, researchers peered inside the brains of dogs as they viewed images of various human expressions. The brain scans revealed that dogs process smiles in a unique brain region and, for the first time, provided evidence that dogs can distinguish between negative facial expressions, including anger, sadness, and fear.

Researchers analysed activity in regions of brain when dogs were shown images of different facial expressions

fMRI scans show happiness, fear, anger, and sadness have distinct brain activity patterns in doggy brains.

Dogs are known to recognize and respond to human facial expressions, but a new study shows how deeply they understand our mood

One breed stands out among the rest

Estudo analisou padrões cerebrais de cães diante de fotos com diferentes expressões faciais