Dog Experts' Brains Distinguish Socially Relevant Body Postures Similarly in Dogs and Humans
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© 2012 Public Library of Science (PLoS). This is the accepted version of the following article: Kujala, Miiamaaria V. & Kujala, Jan & Carlson, Synnöve & Hari, Riitta. 2012. Dog Experts' Brains Distinguish Socially Relevant Body Postures Similarly in Dogs and Humans. PLoS ONE. Volume 7, Issue 6. 1-12. ISSN 1932-6203 (printed). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039145, which has been published in final form at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0039145.
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School of Science |
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Date
2012
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Mcode
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Language
en
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1-12
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PLoS ONE, Volume 7, Issue 6
Abstract
We read conspecifics' social cues effortlessly, but little is known about our abilities to understand social gestures of other species. To investigate the neural underpinnings of such skills, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the brain activity of experts and non-experts of dog behavior while they observed humans or dogs either interacting with, or facing away from a conspecific. The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) of both subject groups dissociated humans facing toward each other from humans facing away, and in dog experts, a distinction also occurred for dogs facing toward vs. away in a bilateral area extending from the pSTS to the inferior temporo-occipital cortex: the dissociation of dog behavior was significantly stronger in expert than control group. Furthermore, the control group had stronger pSTS responses to humans than dogs facing toward a conspecific, whereas in dog experts, the responses were of similar magnitude. These findings suggest that dog experts' brains distinguish socially relevant body postures similarly in dogs and humans.Description
Keywords
humans, dogs, social gestures, understanding, brain activity, functional magnetic resonance imaging
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Citation
Kujala, Miiamaaria V. & Kujala, Jan & Carlson, Synnöve & Hari, Riitta. 2012. Dog Experts' Brains Distinguish Socially Relevant Body Postures Similarly in Dogs and Humans. PLoS ONE. Volume 7, Issue 6. 1-12. ISSN 1932-6203 (printed). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0039145.
