Dogs Can Differentiate Between Happy and Angry Human Faces
- 9 years ago
A new study from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria has shown that pet dogs may be able to differentiate between happy and angry human facial expressions, and they may also recognize that each corresponds to positive and negative emotions, respectively.
Dogs may be able to differentiate between happy and angry expressions in people.
They may also be able tell that these expressions correlate with positive and negative meanings, respectively--a conclusion resulting from a study led by the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Austria.
In the research, dogs were trained to discriminate between a happy and an angry human expression from 15 pairs of photos which revealed only the upper half or lower half of the face.
Researchers then showed the dogs a mix of photos displaying different halves of familiar and unfamiliar faces, and based on the results, determined that “the dogs performed significantly above chance level” of
Dogs may be able to differentiate between happy and angry expressions in people.
They may also be able tell that these expressions correlate with positive and negative meanings, respectively--a conclusion resulting from a study led by the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Austria.
In the research, dogs were trained to discriminate between a happy and an angry human expression from 15 pairs of photos which revealed only the upper half or lower half of the face.
Researchers then showed the dogs a mix of photos displaying different halves of familiar and unfamiliar faces, and based on the results, determined that “the dogs performed significantly above chance level” of