匈牙利和墨西哥的研究人员对14只犬类进行了脑部成像研究，发现狗具有识别和响应人类情感的能力[1]。这项研究通过脑扫描技术，记录了狗在观看不同人类面部表情时的脑活动模式，结果发表在《iScience》期刊上[1]。
研究样本包括边境牧羊犬、金毛猎犬、拉布拉多和混合犬等品种[1]。研究人员对这些狗进行了长期训练，共20个训练课程，逐步延长扫描时间从5秒到3分钟的完整扫描[1]。当狗看到开心的人类面孔时，其脑中的海马体和尾状核等与奖励和情感处理相关的区域被激活[1]。相比之下，恐惧和悲伤的人类表情激活了右吻侧上翼回，愤怒的表情则激活了右翼缘回和左脾体回[1]。
研究者Laura Cuaya表示，"我们应该对狗微笑——即使是对街上的陌生狗"[1]。这一发现表明狗对人类情感的识别能力甚至超越了黑猩猩的水平[1]。
Researchers from Hungary and Mexico conducted brain scans on 14 dogs to examine how canines respond to human facial expressions, discovering that dogs activate reward and emotion-processing regions when viewing happy human faces [1]. The study involved dogs of various breeds, including Border Collies, Golden Retrievers, Labradors, and mixed breeds, which underwent 20 training sessions gradually progressing from 5-second scans to complete 3-minute brain imaging procedures [1].
The neuroimaging results showed distinct patterns of brain activation corresponding to different human emotions [1]. When dogs observed happy human faces, their temporal lobe cortex and caudate nucleus—areas associated with reward processing—were activated [1]. Fear and sadness triggered activity in the right rostral superior temporal sulcus, while anger engaged the right gyrus rectus and left fusiform gyrus [1]. These findings suggest dogs possess a sophisticated capacity to distinguish and emotionally respond to human facial expressions [1].
Dr. Laura Cuaya, one of the researchers, emphasized the practical implications of the findings, stating "we should smile at dogs—even if they are stranger dogs on the street" [1]. The research was published in the journal iScience [1].