Scientists used fMRI to show that dogs can distinguish human emotions. The study, published in i Science, scanned 8 dogs—six border collies, a Labrador, and a golden retriever—to map brain responses to facial expressions.

Each dog was shown neutral or happy faces for 7 seconds inside the scanner, wearing a chin rest and ear muffs. Researchers found that the temporal cortex and caudate nucleus lit up most strongly when dogs viewed happy faces, indicating a neural basis for reading positive human emotions.

Previous behavioral work already suggested dogs choose boxes marked by happy humans over those marked by fearful ones. This imaging evidence confirms that dogs possess specific brain circuits tuned to emotional facial cues.

Co‑author Raúl Hernández‑Pérez of the University of Vienna noted that “dogs and humans are both finely attuned to subtle facial details,” highlighting how this research deepens our understanding of canine social cognition.