Thread by @Lauveri

1. My beloved dogs, Odín and Kun-kun, thrive in the charming city of Budapest because Hungarians have a special fondness for dogs, always showing them a smile.

We studied the dog brain's response to emotional human faces, starting with happiness.
#AnimBehav2023
@AnnieRothNews

2. Our fMRI study revealed increased activity in the right temporal cortex and caudate when dogs (n=8) viewed happy faces.
However, as we used neutral faces as a control, we can't confirm that the response was specifically to happy faces and not just any emotion.🤦‍♀️#AnimBehav2023

3. So, in Experiment 2, we got more emotional! Dogs (n=12) viewed happy, angry, fearful, and sad faces.

We confirm that results from Experiment 1 were driven by happy faces, as a linear SVM classifier discriminated only between happiness and negative emotions.👏
#AnimBehav2023

4. Then, we went to a darker side. We wondered, do dog brains only discriminate positive vs. negative emotions?🤔

A representational analysis showed that dog brains distinguish angry vs. fearful faces and sad vs. fearful faces, but not sad vs. angry faces.
#AnimBehav2023

5. Our results don’t mean that dogs cannot distinguish sad from angry humans.

The complexity of emotions is fascinating, and we can't wait to dive deeper and explore the intricacies of the dog brain response to richer multisensory emotional stimuli.
#AnimBehav2023

6. In a nutshell
* Your smile lights up the temporal cortex of dogs
* The dog brains distinguish some negative emotions

Exploring the mind of dogs is made possible by the support of passionate families.

Let's spread some joy and smile at our furry friends! #AnimBehav2023