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When your dog gazes up at you adoringly, what does it see? A bestfriend? A pack leader? A can opener? Many dog lovers make all kinds of inferences about how their petsfeel about them, but no one has captured images of actual caninethought processes - until now. Emory University researchers have developed a new methodology toscan the brains of alert dogs and explore the minds of the oldestdomesticated species. The technique uses harmless functionalMagnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), the same tool that is unlockingsecrets of the human brain. The Public Library of Science ( PLoS ONE ) is publishing the results of their first experiment, showing howthe brains of dogs reacted to hand signals given by their owners. "It was amazing to see the first brain images of a fully awake,unrestrained dog," says Gregory Berns, director of the Emory Centerfor Neuropolicy and lead researcher of the dog project. "As far aswe know, no one has been able to do this previously. We hope thisopens up a whole new door for understanding canine cognition andinter-species communication. We want to understand the dog-humanrelationship, from the dog's perspective." Key members of the research team include Andrew Brooks, a graduatestudent at the Center for Neuropolicy, and Mark Spivak, aprofessional dog trainer and owner of Comprehensive Pet Therapy inAtlanta. Two dogs are involved in the first phase of the project. Callie isa two-year-old Feist, or southern squirrel-hunting dog. Bernsadopted her at nine months from a shelter. McKenzie is athree-year-old Border Collie, who was already well-trained inagility competition by her owner, Melissa Cate. Both dogs weretrained over several months to walk into an fMRI scanner and holdcompletely still while researchers measured their neural activity. The researchers aim to decode the mental processes of dogs byrecording which areas of their brains are activated by variousstimuli. Ultimately, they hope to get at questions like: Do dogshave empathy? Do they know when their owners are happy or sad? Howmuch language do they really understand? In the first experiment, the dogs were trained to respond to handsignals. One signal meant the dog would receive a hot dog treat,and another signal meant it would not receive one. The caudateregion of the brain, associated with rewards in humans, showedactivation in both dogs when they saw the signal for the treat, butnot for the no-treat signal. "These results indicate that dogs pay very close attention to humansignals," Berns says. "And these signals may have a direct line tothe dog's reward system." Berns is a neuroeconomist, who normally uses fMRI technology tostudy how the human mind works. His human brain-imaging studieshave looked at everything from why teens engage in risky behaviorto how adults decide to follow, or break, established rules ofsociety. Dog lovers may not need convincing on the merits of researching theminds of our canine companions. "To the skeptics out there, and thecat people, I would say that dogs are the first domesticatedspecies, going back at least 10,000 years, and by some estimates30,000 years," Berns says. "The dog's brain represents somethingspecial about how humans and animals came together. It's possiblethat dogs have even affected human evolution. People who took dogsinto their homes and villages may have had certain advantages. Asmuch as we made dogs, I think dogs probably made some part of us,too." The idea for the dog project came to Berns about a year ago, whenhe learned that a U.S. Navy dog had been a member of the SEAL teamthat killed Osama bin Laden. "I was amazed when I saw the picturesof what military dogs can do," Berns says. "I realized that if dogscan be trained to jump out of helicopters and airplanes, we couldcertainly train them to go into an fMRI to see what they'rethinking." All procedures for the dog project were approved by theInstitutional Animal Care and Use Committee of Emory. "From theoutset, we wanted to ensure the safety and comfort of the dogs,"Berns says. "We wanted them to be unrestrained and go into thescanner willingly." The dogs were trained to wear earmuffs, to protect them from thenoise of the scanner. They were also taught to hold their headsperfectly still on a chin rest during the scanning process, toprevent blurring of the images. "We know the dogs are happy by their body language," says MarkSpivak, the professional trainer involved in the project. Callie,in particular, seems to revel in the attention of breaking newground in science. "She enters the scanner on her own, without a command, sometimeswhen it's not her turn," Spivak says. "She's eager to participate." Additional References Citations. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Brightest LED Light Manufacturer , E14 LED Candle Light, and more. For more , please visit E14 LED Candle Light today!
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