"Hot Dogs Offer Window into Canine Emotions"

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https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/hot-dogs-offer-window-into-canine-emotions/


Scientists have done studies that show the biological effects when a person is frightened. When a person experiences fear the blood leaves their extremities and rushes to the organs and muscles in the body, so the person can be "ready to go." Thermographic video cameras show the temperature of a persons body through color. When a person is relaxed their extremities will be more red/orange and closer into their body will be blue/purple and when they are frightened their extremities will be more blue and the inside of their body more red. 

Taking this biological effect into consideration the author was curious to see if dogs had the same experience when they experienced fear or uncomfortableness. A study was done with several dogs where they were alone for a short amount of time, which caused them to be more frightened and on edge and then they were reunited with a person, which caused them to experience happiness. The dogs were recorded with thermographic video and the results were similar to the results done with a human participant. When the dogs were left alone their ears showed cooler colors and when they were reunited with a person their ears showed warmer colors. 

I found this article very interesting because it shows the similarities between humans and dogs in something so simple as emotion. The results of this study do not surprise me because I have always felt like dogs and humans had similarities in emotion because dogs always know when you're sad. If I'm just having a bad day, my dog immediately knows and tries to cheer me up. This is why dogs are a humans best friend. 

Comments

  1. BriaNovember 28, 2016 at 11:53 PM

    I agree with you. I was not surprised with this article. I have a dog as well and many times our emotions match each other or we feed off each other's emotions.

    ReplyDelete

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