Exploring the dog-human relationship by combining fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioural measures.

ABSTRACT: Behavioural studies revealed that the dog-human relationship resembles the human mother-child bond, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we report the results of a multi-method approach combining fMRI (N = 17), eye-tracking (N = 15), and behavioural preference tests (N = 24) to explore the engagement of an attachment-like system in dogs seeing human faces. We presented morph videos of the caregiver, a familiar person, and a stranger showing either happy or angry facial expressions. Regardless of emotion, viewing the caregiver activated brain regions associated with emotion and attachment processing in humans. In contrast, the stranger elicited activation mainly in brain regions related to visual and motor processing, and the familiar person relatively weak activations overal

SUBMITTER: Karl S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7747637 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature