Study: Dogs Feel Same Emotions as Humans

Read Time:2 Minute, 17 Second
Aadi is happy just being around us
Aadi is happy just being around us

As dedicated dog lovers will tell you no study is needed to convince them that our canines experience emotions.  We witness our critters hang their heads when we leave, and jump for joy when we return home.  They get excited at the idea of playing ball, and ecstatic at the very thought of chewing on something as simple as a knotted rope.  So, scientific research is not needed to validate what dog lovers already know but one researcher may have found scientific evidence that dogs are people, too.

Gregory Berns, professor of neuroeconomics at Emory University and the author of “How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain,” has done what many other researchers have not been able to do, which is study MRI scans of dog brains without the use of anesthetic.

Berns and positive reinforcement animal trainer Mark Spivak trained one dozen dogs, using positive reinforcement training to wear ear muffs (to protect their sensitive ears to the very loud MRI machine), rest their chins on a rest and sit perfectly still and unrestrained for 30-60 seconds while researchers measured certain perceptions and emotions.

Berns disclosed his findings in a piece for The New York Times, where he says dog parents signed consent forms for their dogs and they were allowed to leave the study anytime.

His first subject was his own dog, Callie, a rescue terrier mix. After several months of training, they were able to get their first scans. The scan measured her reactions to hand signals and scents of familiar and unfamiliar dogs.

The study focused on the caudate nucleus, a part of the brain. It was found that the caudate nucleus changed when the dogs were presented with food and more importantly, it changed when the dog’s people returned from having stepped out of the room.

Berns says it doesn’t necessarily prove that dogs love us. However, the caudate in dogs is similar to that of humans and the same thing that activates human caudate, which is associated with positive emotions, also activates a dog’s caudate. “The ability to experience positive emotions, like love and attachment, would mean that dogs have a level of sentience comparable to that of a human child. And this ability suggests a rethinking of how we treat dogs,” Berns wrote.

Berns says these types of studies may eventually change how we view dogs and other animals, in that one day dogs will be akin to personhood.

He points out many animal activists and rescues already refer to adopters as “guardians” instead of “owners.”

Many thanks to PetMD for story contributions.

About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
Happy
Happy
0 %
Sad
Sad
0 %
Excited
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
Angry
0 %
Surprise
Surprise
0 %
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of

5 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Jess
10 years ago

I’ve got one dog thinks he is a little human person already. Will not go to sleep unless his ears get a rub first and his back a little massage. Me being the in house staff I say ok, I’ll do it and I believe I have spoiled him. He will lay back all splayed out with a smile on his face like he is at a four star spa. I’m good with that though.

10 years ago

Ahhh but you haven’t met my daughters boyfriends mum and stepfathers doggie.

Skyler is clearly in a complete world of her own.

She is beautiful and completely deranged.

She also seems to be inordinately fond of eating bits of my hands – and that’s including ‘puppy training classes’ – probably just as well – it might be bits of my head otherwise 😉

Marsha Woerner
10 years ago

Yes, emotions. And I believe cats have them, also, although displayed in a totally different manner. And I really like the change that IS being made in vocabulary used to represent animals’ “caretakers”. After all, we don’t say that we are the “owners” of our babies. Or of our aging parents. Or of fully or partially disabled friends for whom we offer care. I know, it’s just more difficult TO say that pets are “people”. They are not. But they DO have emotions and feelings, and they have nerves to feel pain, both emotional and physical. It truly is time for people, in general, to stop feeling that just because “we” have certain physical and mental abilities that distinguish us from many animals, “they” can just be belongings…

Rachael
10 years ago

We have five dogs and they all love us, and each other. I’ve known this for years and years, but still it’s nice to have a validating study 🙂

Reply to  Rachael
10 years ago

Agreed, Rachael.

One of the many dogs who have chosen to live with me, was named Tippy. Tippy was a very dignified dog. She had a sense of propriety… in short, she was a lady. One time, during a post storm ice-over, we were out doing our necessaries. We lived by a wooded area, so I would let her off the leash, to do her business, and she’d come running back when she was done.

This particular time, she hit a patch of black ice, and took a spill that would have easily crippled a Human being. I mean she did an aerial somersault, and hit the concrete with a thud that I heard from 30 feet away.

She got up – shook herself, then looked around to see if anybody saw. When she saw me looking – fear and concern being the only emotions I would have been demonstrating – she grinned. And although I couldn’t see red, to this day, I’ll swear – she blushed.

Previous post Consumers Demand End To Barbaric Marketing of Pigs
Next post Family Values Republican Governor Bob McDonnell and Wife Indicted
5
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x