Your dog looks at your face and knows more than you think.
Researchers from the University of Vienna, led by Raúl Hernández-Pérez and Laura Cuaya, subjected a group of domestic dogs to magnetic resonance scans while showing them photos of human faces displaying different emotions. They found that a specific network in the canine brain, made up of the temporal cortex and the caudate nucleus, activates only in response to happy faces, something that does not occur with any negative expression.
But the most surprising finding came when analyzing the entire brain: there, they were able to identify distinct patterns for fear, sadness, and anger, published in the journal iScience. It is the first time science has shown that a dog does not see only “happy human” or “upset human”—it distinguishes nuances. The scientists clarify that this does not mean dogs feel the same way we do, but it does mean that the bond with your dog is much more complex than you imagined.