How do dogs see the world? Do they see it the same as us humans? A team of scientists answers the million-dollar question with a fabulous discovery about the perception of these animals after an experiment.
Researchers at Emory University in Atlanta (USA) observed the brains of two dogs through an MRI machine while they watched home movies.
According to research results, dogs present significant differences in the way they perceive the world compared to people.
One of the aspects highlighted is that dogs are much more visually in tune with the actions, instead of what or who is executing said actions.
This finding represents a key piece of the puzzle of canine cognition, according to the scientists’ statement, as it reveals what a dog’s brain prioritizes when it comes to vision.
The research, published in the Journal of Visualized Experiments, was carried out on only two dogs, Daisy and Bhubo.
What did it consist of? The animals watched a series of movies in three 30-minute sessions while relaxed in a magnetic resonator.
They warn that the content of the images was specific to dogs, and among them these pets were seen running, humans interacting with dogs, or giving them treats.
They also included other types of images, such as vehicles passing in front of the camera, people interacting with each other, a deer crossing a road or a cat in a house.
To compare both observations, in parallel two humans also watched the same videos under the same conditions, that is, while undergoing an MRI.
“Humans are very object-oriented. We have a particular obsession with naming objects. Dogs seem to be less concerned with who or what they are seeing and are more concerned with the action itself,” explains psychologist Gregory Berns. Another difference is that they only distinguish shades of what would be perceived as blue and yellow parts of the spectrum.
In turn, they have a higher density of vision receptors sensitive to movement, something that could be due to the fact that dogs need to be more aware of threats in their environment than humans, the study publication states.
On the other hand, humans are very focused on the visual, while for dogs the sense of smell is the most powerful. Hence, processing olfactory information occupies a much larger proportion in your brain.
