Dog brains do not prefer faces
Unlike human brains, dog brains do not contain face-sensitive areas

Date:
October 5, 2020
Source:
Society for Neuroscience
Summary:
Even though dogs gaze into man's eyes, dog brains may not process
faces as human brains do. A new study suggests that the canine
visual system is organized differently: the face network found in
primates may not extend to all mammals.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
Even though dogs gaze into man's eyes, dog brains may not process faces
as human brains do. A new study from JNeurosci suggests that the canine
visual system is organized differently: the face network found in primates
may not extend to all mammals.


========================================================================== Faces constitute a critical part of communication for humans and other primates, so much so that faces have a special status in their visual
system.

Areas in the face network, like the fusiform face area, activate
specifically to faces. Dogs care about faces, too, but they may not have
face areas.

Bunford, Herna'ndez-Pe'rez et al. used fMRI to compare the brain activity
of humans and pet dogs as they watched brief videos of other humans
and dogs.

Human brains showed a preference for faces, meaning that some visual
areas had greater activity in response to a face compared to the back of
the head. A subset of these regions also displayed species preference,
with increased activity in response to viewing a human over a dog. In
contrast, dog brains only showed species preference. Visual areas had
greater activity in response to seeing a dog over a human, and no activity difference between seeing a face vs. the back of the head.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Society_for_Neuroscience. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. No'ra Bunford, Rau'l Herna'ndez-Pe'rez, Eszter Borba'la Farkas,
Laura V.

Cuaya, Do'ra Szabo', A'da'm Gyo"rgy Szabo', Ma'rta Ga'csi, A'da'm
Miklo'si, Attila Andics. COMPARATIVE BRAIN IMAGING REVEALS ANALOGOUS
AND DIVERGENT PATTERNS OF SPECIES- AND FACE-SENSITIVITY IN HUMANS
AND DOGS.

The Journal of Neuroscience, 2020; JN-RM-2800-19 DOI: 10.1523/
JNEUROSCI.2800-19.2020 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/10/201005140825.htm

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