Dogs Make More Facial Expressions When People Are Looking At Them
- 7 years ago
Dogs have clearly mastered the art of heart-melting facial expressions, and a recent study suggests that their many emotive looks may be triggered by attention from humans.
Dogs have clearly mastered the art of heart-melting facial expressions, and a recent study suggests that their many emotive looks may be triggered by attention from humans.
Researchers with the University of Portsmouth’s Dog Cognition Centre found that the animals are more apt to exhibit various facial poses when people are looking at them.
The research involved 24 family dogs belonging to a variety of breeds and between 1 and 12 years of age.
All were recorded as the scientists looked at and turned away from them.
After analyzing the footage, the team concluded that dogs are especially tuned in to the attention given to them by humans, which may suggest the many faces they make are communication attempts rather than simple displays of emotion.
“Most mammals produce facial expressions…but it has long been assumed that animal facial expressions…are involuntary and dependent on an individual’s emotional state rather than being flexible responses to the audience,” a university release notes.
“Domestic dogs have a unique history – they have lived alongside humans for 30,000 years and during that time selection pressures seem to have acted on dogs’ ability to communicate with us,” Juliane Kaminski, one of the researchers, commented.
Dogs have clearly mastered the art of heart-melting facial expressions, and a recent study suggests that their many emotive looks may be triggered by attention from humans.
Researchers with the University of Portsmouth’s Dog Cognition Centre found that the animals are more apt to exhibit various facial poses when people are looking at them.
The research involved 24 family dogs belonging to a variety of breeds and between 1 and 12 years of age.
All were recorded as the scientists looked at and turned away from them.
After analyzing the footage, the team concluded that dogs are especially tuned in to the attention given to them by humans, which may suggest the many faces they make are communication attempts rather than simple displays of emotion.
“Most mammals produce facial expressions…but it has long been assumed that animal facial expressions…are involuntary and dependent on an individual’s emotional state rather than being flexible responses to the audience,” a university release notes.
“Domestic dogs have a unique history – they have lived alongside humans for 30,000 years and during that time selection pressures seem to have acted on dogs’ ability to communicate with us,” Juliane Kaminski, one of the researchers, commented.