New Study Proves Dogs Can Recognize Humans’ Emotions

If you are a dog lover reading this headline, you probably said to yourself, "Well, DUH!" Chances are you have experienced your pet consoling you when you're upset or staying by your side when you are sick. Trained service animals can even sense changes in their person's body, like blood sugar levels and blood pressure.

I know my Golden Retriever, Freddie, can sense whether I am sad, mad, or worried, because he will try to get as close as he can to either lie on me, nuzzle me, or put his paw on me to help me feel better. When I'm crying, it always makes me boo hoo even more because it's so darn sweet!

So while we all already know that dogs recognize emotion, is it now verified by an actual scientific study that was published this week by iScience Journal. Dogs were monitored by a type of MRI that read the way their brains responded to photos of humans making different expressions.

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Happy, Sad, Mad, Neutral, etc. The most noticeable reaction in their frontotemporal lobe was to a human's happy face. The dogs also showed varied reactions to similar negative emotions. For instance, they could tell the difference between facial expressions showing anger and fear.

They had a harder time distinguishing between anger and sadness, but researchers believe that is because dogs have a biological predisposition to recognizing fear in other animals as a survival mechanism. Which makes sense! Anger and sadness are less of a danger to them.

I love that scientists are trying to understand the connection between dogs and humans. Although, as I said, we already knew these things. Our sweetie pies show us every day that they understand us and love us unconditionally. Learning that all of this is backed by proof makes me want to leave work and go home to hug my Freddie!!

Do you have any stories about your animals showing empathy or proof that they know what you are feeling? I'd love to read about them on the Facebook page or AppChat.