Dogs Can Discriminate Emotional Expressions of Human Faces

[G_j]

http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822%2814%2901693-5

Highlights

•We demonstrate that pet dogs can discriminate emotional expressions in human faces
•We can rule out that discrimination was based on simple local cues
•This ability may depend on extensive interaction with humans and/or domestication
•Dogs probably use their memories of real emotional human faces to accomplish the task

Summary

The question of whether animals have emotions and respond to the emotional expressions of others has become a focus of research in the last decade [ 1–9 ]. However, to date, no study has convincingly shown that animals discriminate between emotional expressions of heterospecifics, excluding the possibility that they respond to simple cues. Here, we show that dogs use the emotion of a heterospecific as a discriminative cue. After learning to discriminate between happy and angry human faces in 15 picture pairs, whereby for one group only the upper halves of the faces were shown and for the other group only the lower halves of the faces were shown, dogs were tested with four types of probe trials: (1) the same half of the faces as in the training but of novel faces, (2) the other half of the faces used in training, (3) the other half of novel faces, and (4) the left half of the faces used in training. We found that dogs for which the happy faces were rewarded learned the discrimination more quickly than dogs for which the angry faces were rewarded. This would be predicted if the dogs recognized an angry face as an aversive stimulus. Furthermore, the dogs performed significantly above chance level in all four probe conditions and thus transferred the training contingency to novel stimuli that shared with the training set only the emotional expression as a distinguishing feature. We conclude that the dogs used their memories of real emotional human faces to accomplish the discrimination task.

[hollysmom]

1. don't need a study, to figure this out, own a dog.

[melman]

2. Seriously

[G_j]

5. "However, to date, no study has convincingly shown that animals discriminate

between emotional expressions of heterospecifics, excluding the possibility that they respond to simple cues."

[cwydro]

3. Yup.

Dogs and cats. I love them.

[pnwmom]

13. They haven't demonstrated the same ability with cats, so I'll have to take your word on that. nt

[cwydro]

14. Lol!

I think cats are just mind readers!

[pnwmom]

15. Unfortunately, I have bad cat allergies, so I've never been able to compare

dogs and cats from the same perspective.

But my dogs have been amazing.

[cwydro]

18. I love all fur creatures.

I truly can't choose between them...

I have a goose and chickens that I love dearly too.

Though I hate the rooster (and he hates me back!)

[vankuria]

4. Agreed!

No study required, our dog since he was a puppy has responded appropriately to our emotions. I think dogs share a lot of the same emotions we humans have, that's why they bond so well with us.

[surrealAmerican]

9. I disagree. The study is showing something useful.

Even though dog owners all know that their dogs respond to people's emotional state, the fact that dogs can perceive that state from facial expression alone is new. Dogs are also keenly aware of body language. I would have assumed that plays a larger role in a dog's awareness.

[hollysmom]

10. I don't think that is news to many

I always make faces at my dog to drive her nuts - but besides faces, they can tell by body language if you are wearing a mask, or by voice if you are behind a door.

I admit they are not very good at reading the notes I leave behind or at the telephone messages, or even what is going on at TV unless there is a racing car or an animal on screen.

I don't know as much about cats because, well mostly they just don't care. disclaimer: I am not saying that cats are uncaring and heartless, just that they are very busy with their own lives and don't always have time for us, some do, some don't Dogs on the other hand,need to get a life. They hang (at least mine do) on every word and need to sit by me in case I escape for a while, they get very annoyed if they fall asleep and I move.

[pnwmom]

12. We do need a study because so many non-dog owners think that dogs are just black boxes,

responding in an automatic way as B.F. Skinner theorized.

[hollysmom]

19. maybe we need a study showing why people are so dumb.

or deliberately ignorant - I have been thinking this a long time, especially after elections when some people get elected despite not supporting those who vote for them.

I think that wold be money better spent.

[Mimosa]

6. Dogs Can Discriminate Emotional Expressions of Human Faces

So can cats. But they don't care.

[winter is coming]

7. Their favorite expression: the "want some bacon?" face. n/t

[FrodosPet]

8. Paging Ric Romero

Ooops, sorry, wrong board.

[Jenoch]

11. Dogs can also detect human emotions without

using human facial expressions to do so.

Cats also have some amazing abilities. I have read about cats in nursing homes that go and lay down in the beds of residents only when that person is going to die soon.

[pnwmom]

16. Some animals can smell cancer, and I'm sure they can smell a dying body, too.

Elderly people can die slowly, over the course of weeks. I would expect that animals could smell the changes that take place.

[Jenoch]

17. I tbink I remember a 60 minutes piece on training dogs to sniff out cancer cells.