Do you feel like you know what kind of mood your dog is in by the look on her face? And can you tell when your dog is really disappointed in you, because of those accusing eyes? Well now, according to a study examined in this article from The Telegraph, scientists have proven that you’re not completely crazy, and you’re not just “projecting.”
Scientists prove you really can tell what your dog is feeling by looking at its face
Any dog owner will claim they can tell exactly what their pet is thinking just by looking at it. Now scientists have discovered that they may well be right.
A study has shown that people are able to precisely identify a range of emotions in dogs from changes in their facial expressions.
The research showed that volunteers could correctly spot when a dog was happy, sad, angry, surprised or scared, when shown only a picture of the animal’s face, suggesting that humans are naturally attuned to detecting how animals are feeling.
Dr Tina Bloom, a psychologist who led the research, said: “There is no doubt that humans have the ability to recognise emotional states in other humans and accurately read other humans’ facial expressions. We have shown that humans are also able to accurately – if not perfectly – identify at least one dog’s facial expressions.
“Although humans often think of themselves as disconnected or even isolated from nature, our study suggests that there are patterns that connect, and one of these is in the form of emotional communication.â€
(Click here to read the complete article.)
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Hmm.. kind of makes you think that dogs wouldn’t really make very good poker players!
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