The Project Dog has discovered what goes on in the minds of our four-legged friends
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves himWhat do dogs think? It will be revealed by the brain scans. But not in future times. New research conducted by the Emory University has already found out what goes on in the minds of our faithful friends on all fours. One was enough magnetic resonance per sound the thoughts of Fido and co.
The researchers of Center Emory for Neuropolicy driven by Gregory Berns have developed a new methodology for examining the brain of dogs in alarm situations by exploring the mind of the oldest domesticated animal species. Nothing invasive, fortunately. The technique uses harmless functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), also used to steal the secrets (and diseases) of the human brain.
“It was amazing to see the first images of the brain of a fully awake dog, ”he said Berns, lead researcher of the project called The Dog Project. "As far as we know, no one has ever been able to do this before."
. Two dogs involved in the project, Callie, a two-year-old feist, and McKenzie, a three-year-old border collie. Both dogs were trained for several months to walk on an fMRI scanner and remain motionless while the researchers measured their neural activity. Training played a crucial role in preventing the dogs from being sedated.
Later, a Callie e McKenzie they were asked to distinguish two human gestures in anticipation of a reward, a hot dog if the trainer's left hand was facing down, nothing if both hands were facing up.
At that time, the researchers attempted to decode the mental processes of the dogs, recording which areas of the brain were activated by the stimuli. From the observations it emerged an activation of the caudal region in the brains of both dogs in conjunction with the gesture for which they would receive a reward, not the other. Bens explains: “These results indicate that dogs lend particular attention to human gestures and that these signals could have a direct link with the dog's 'reward system' ".
“The dog's brain represents something special, and it could explain the connection with that of humans. It is possible that dogs have also influenced human evolution ”.
All the procedures for the project have been previously approved by theInstitutional Animal Care. “From the beginning, we wanted to ensure the safety and comfort of the dogs,” says Berns. “We hope that the study will open a door to new knowledge for dog understanding and inter-species communication”.
The study will be published tomorrow May 11 on PLoS One.
Francesca Mancuso
