Hum Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 An owner?s scent activates the parts of a dog?s brain associated with pleasure, a new brain-imaging study says.Thus, a dog encountering its owner?s smell could feel in some way like a person reacting to the perfume or cologne of a loved one, according to study leader Gregory Berns, a neuroeconomist at Emory University in Atlanta.For his research, Berns trains dogs to sit still during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), allowing him to look into the minds of man?s best friends. Compared with MRI, which takes images of the brain, fMRI measures the activity of the brain?s nerve cells.Though people and dogs have been bonding for 40,000 years, scientists still have trouble interpreting their barks, wags, and other behaviors.?We started the dog project about three years ago to get around this problem that we really don?t know what dogs are thinking or what they?re experiencing,? said Berns, whose study appeared March 6 in the journal Behavioural Processes.Specifically, Berns and his team studies areas of the dog brain that are similar to areas in our brains, such as structures associated with reward.In the new study, Berns and his team performed fMRI on 12 dogs, including 5 service or therapy dogs and his own dog, Callie, to test their response to biological odors.The experiment dogs were presented with five scents on gauze pads: a familiar human, an unfamiliar human, a dog that lived in their household, an unfamiliar dog, and their own scent.The researchers found that the dogs? caudate nucleus, an area of the brain associated with positive expectations, was most activated by the scent of the familiar person.This suggests not only that dogs can discern their familiar humans and have a positive expectation about them, but also that these humans? smells linger in a dog?s mind.more Ian W 1 Share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SionicIon Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 I wonder what my cat thinks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torolol Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 cat can also discern people, my cats are very friendly with me, but with other peoples they quite cautious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 I wonder what my cat thinks... Feed me or die Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SionicIon Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Feed me or die I actually starved him today because I gave him his wet food on his rubber dish. I came back in the room expecting to see a satisfied purring cat, but instead I saw a clump of wet food stuck to the carpet, and the rubber dish next to his litterbox. I quickly got the message, I was supposed to starve the spoiled brat, not spoil it some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turk. Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Research Sniffer Doggies http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376635714000473?via=ihub Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
123456789A Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I actually starved him today because I gave him his wet food on his rubber dish. I came back in the room expecting to see a satisfied purring cat, but instead I saw a clump of wet food stuck to the carpet, and the rubber dish next to his litterbox. I quickly got the message, I was supposed to starve the spoiled brat, not spoil it some more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 this just in - scientists has developed procedure to swap your dog's brain with your girlfriend's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turk. Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 The real danger would be: Competing with you to sniff and then lick/suck your GF's or your BF's :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hum Posted March 27, 2014 Author Share Posted March 27, 2014 I think it's more of, I smell my meal ticket ... food time :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocM Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 Dogs are, in the end, a humongous nose which has grown 4 legs and a huge, loving, heart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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