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Exploring the dog-human relationship by combining fMRI, eye-tracking and behavioural measures
Sabrina Karl1, Magdalena Boch2,3, Anna Zamansky4
1Clever Dog Lab, Comparative Cognition, Messerli Research Institute, University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, Medical University of Vienna, University of Vienna, 1210, Vienna, Austria. Sabrina.Karl@vetmeduni.ac.at.
Scientific Reports
|December 18, 2020
Summary
Dogs show attachment-like responses to their caregivers, activating brain regions similar to human mother-child bonds. This study used fMRI, eye-tracking, and behavior tests to confirm the caregiver
Area of Science:
- Comparative psychology
- Neuroscience
- Animal behavior
Background:
- The dog-human bond parallels human mother-child attachment.
- Underlying neural and behavioral mechanisms are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate the attachment-like system in dogs observing human faces.
- Explore brain and behavioral responses to familiar vs. unfamiliar humans.
Main Methods:
- Multi-method approach: fMRI (N=17), eye-tracking (N=15), and behavioral preference tests (N=24).
- Presented morph videos of caregiver, familiar person, and stranger with happy/angry expressions.
Main Results:
- Caregiver's face activated emotion and attachment brain regions, regardless of emotion.
- Stranger's face activated visual/motor areas; familiar person showed weak activation.
- Happy stimuli engaged reward centers (caudate nucleus); angry stimuli activated limbic regions.
- Eye-tracking and preference tests confirmed caregiver's superior role.
Conclusions:
- Findings suggest a dog-human attachment system similar to human parent-offspring bonds.
- Multi-modal approach provides converging evidence for attachment mechanisms in dogs.
- Dog-human interactions involve complex neural and behavioral engagement.
