Humans and Dogs Use Same Brain Region to Appeal to Others’ Emotions

Have you ever fell victim to your dog giving you the classic "puppy face"? I'm sure many of us have. But have you actually wondered how they were able to manipulate you into giving them that treat or going outside with them to play? A new study may have answers for us.

Researchers from Hungary conducted a study that involved putting canine participants in an MRI scanner in order to reveal possible answers from looking at their brain. And by also examining 22 human brains, they found that the anterior temporal lobe revealed similarities between them.

The anterior temporal pole is a critical part of the brain that is responsible for semantic memory, otherwise known as our knowledge of objects, people, words, and facts. There are two structures along one axis of this brain region that are of great significance. The ventral structures are responsible for processing visual information whereas the dorsolateral structures process non-visual information such as abstract concepts and auditory information. More on the anterior temporal lobe can be found in the Journal of Neuroscience.

This is the location of such activity that humans and dogs show similarities. The temporal pole region was activated in both the human and dog brains when they both heard human voices. Such a finding has allowed scientists to discover the often-stated mutual connection between a human and their dog.

Dr. Attila Andics from the Hungarian Academy of Science's Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest was the lead author of the study that is published in the journal Current Biology. The research team tested the brains of golden retrievers and border collies and observed brain reactions when exposing the animals to talking, laughing, crying, etc.

"The location (of the activity) in the dog brain is very similar to where we found it in the human brain," said Dr. Andics in this BBC News article. "The fact that we found these areas exist at all in the dog brain at all is a surprise - it is the first time we have seen this in a non-primate."

These findings suggest that the presence of this brain region in both the dogs and humans means that it probably existed in an ancestor of the two species over 100 million years ago. To focus of Dr. Andics' next experiments will be the dogs sensitivity to words spoken by their owner.

To read more about the Hungarian Academy of Science's Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest study, visit this BBC News article.