Facial Expressions: Dogs View Emotions Differently, So Faces Matter

A recent study from the University of Helsinki has shown that domestic dogs have the same social gazing behavior as the human beings they reside with, proving that emotional expressions do have an effect on dogs' behavior. Dogs have a systematic way of viewing facial expressions, preferring to watch the eyes, and different facial expressions can alter how a dog reacts when it perceives something as a threat.

The team of researchers examined 31 total dogs, comprising of 13 different dog breeds. The dogs were clicker-trained to sit in front of a monitor without being told or having to be restrained, helping motivate the dogs to perform the task at hand.

The study used eye-tracking technology to show how dogs examine the emotional expressions of the faces of fellow canines and humans. The researchers found that generally, the dogs viewed the eyes for the longest, and started gazing in the eye region more often. Certain species-specific expressions attracted the attention of the dogs, like the mouths of other dogs deemed threatening, according to a news release.

Dogs have adapted an evolutionary mechanism to be sensitive to threats and be prepared to avoid them as a means to survive, so threatening faces can evoke an attention bias in canines. However, the dogs' viewing behavior was species specific. When they came in contact with another dog's threatening face, their gaze was invoked longer, and they would stare for extended periods of time. But when in contact with a threatening human face, the dogs went responded in an avoidance-based way.

"The tolerant behavior strategy of dogs toward humans may partially explain the results. Domestication may have equipped dogs with a sensitivity to detect the threat signals of humans and respond them with pronounced appeasement signals," Sanni Somppi, from the University of Helsinki, said.

Charles Darwin previously proposed parallels between animal and human emotional expression, suggesting shared evolutionary roots. Recent findings have shown support for Darwin's argument, and this is the first study to provide evidence of emotion-related gaze patterns in non-primates, according to the news release.

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