Just as someone very close to me wishes for just 5 minutes to explain the rules to pets, maybe there is the capability for such communication, only it’s the pet that is wishing for the same 5 minutes for us to understand from them what they want to communicate.
ABC News, aired Wednesday, May 16, 2012, Doggie MRIs: What Is Your Dog Thinking?
Do you ever wonder what your dog is thinking, with his tail wagging, tongue out the side of his mouth? Does he really love you as much as you think?
Researchers at Emory University are one step closer to finding out. They are now conducting MRIs on dogs, looking for clues to what they’re thinking.
Read the full story about the training and the results of MRI testing that revealed interesting results. There was a clear difference in the scan in the area of the brain that processes feelings of reward.
“It proves they’ve transferred the meaning of the hand signal to something that’s important to them,” Berns said. “It’s really getting at the start of how a dog processes dog-to-human communication.”
And Berns said he thinks this new insight into what dogs are thinking will open many more doors in the future.
“I think this lets us see how the dogs are responding to us, and in a very practical sense, it’s going to show us better ways to communicate with them, better ways to train that are not exclusively dependent on treats and punishment.”
I see it coming. Let the jokes begin about whether this research should move to other less sophisticated beings – such as politicians, to see whether MRI exams can reveal if politicians are any better than dogs at processing information from their constituents.
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