Dogs distinguish authentic human emotions without being empathic.

ABSTRACT: Several recent studies have investigated how dogs perceive human emotional expressions. They have measured the reactions of dogs when exposed to stimuli presented in different modalities, such as photographs, audio recordings or odor samples, or to humans simulating various emotional situations. In the current study, dog owners were manipulated to genuinely experience emotions of happiness, sadness, and neutrality. We measured how dogs responded to their owners' authentic emotions in two different natural situations: induction of the emotion through a video clip and training of a new task. Through a detailed analysis of dog behavior in these naturalistic settings, we investigated whether dogs show behavioral responses to genuine human emotions. We found that dogs behaved differently depend

SUBMITTER: Brauer J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11416375 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature