Any dog lover will tell you their canine friend picks up on their mood and emotions. Now scientists have worked out exactly what is going on inside a dog's brain when it sees a human - even a complete stranger - smiling or scowling. Their research involved 14 dogs in total who all sat very still in a brain scanner while they were shown pictures of people's faces. Photographs of happy, smiling human faces made an area of the brain that is associated with reward "light up" with activity. This reward circuitry is the part of the brain that is activated when we enjoy and remember good things, like tasty food or praise. In terms of our own brains, we often refer to it as the "hit" or "high" that is triggered by winning a game or even receiving a positive comment on a social media post. In previous research on dogs, the same brain region has been found to light up when the dogs anticipated a tasty snack, or smelled a familiar person. "It controls us having motivation to do things - wanting to do things," explained Laura Cuaya, one of the study's lead researchers at the University of Vienna. "So this finding suggests that happy faces, even those of strangers have a positive value for dogs
Aug 10, 2026 → Aug 13, 2026
It’s something every dog owner knows — but now we have the science to prove it: Dogs really can tell when we’re happy or sad. Scientists have scanned the brains of dogs to reveal how they process various human expressions, including…
Read original at CNN →2 updates from 2 sources over 3 days.
It’s something every dog owner knows — but now we have the science to prove it: Dogs really can tell when we’re happy or sad. Scientists have scanned the brains of dogs to reveal how they process various human…
Read original at CNN →Any dog lover will tell you their canine friend picks up on their mood and emotions. Now scientists have worked out exactly what is going on inside a dog's brain when it sees a human - even a complete stranger - smiling…
Read original at BBC →What this story stands on. Tier 0 is a primary record or the subject's own words; higher tiers must be attributed, never stated as bare fact.
It’s something every dog owner knows — but now we have the science to prove it: Dogs really can tell when we’re happy or sad. Scientists have scanned the brains of dogs to reveal how they process various human expressions, including…
View source →Any dog lover will tell you their canine friend picks up on their mood and emotions. Now scientists have worked out exactly what is going on inside a dog's brain when it sees a human - even a complete stranger - smiling or scowling. Their…
View source →Tier key: T0 = Primary source · T1 = Wire · T2 = Outlet report · T3 = Commentary
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