Okay, we can’t really answer
that question. But thanks to the efforts of Gregory Berns and Andrew Brooks of Emory University and Mark Spivak
of Comprehensive Pet Therapy, we may be closer than ever to understanding our best friends. They trained two dogs to jump into a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machine and stay.
Dogs can be taught to do an amazing number of tasks, and among them
apparently, is to lie still with their heads on an fMRI chin rest. Once in
position, the dogs were shown one of two hand signals, one indicating a hot dog
treat and the other no treat. Presumably, in dog world, these options
represent extremes in happiness. And in fact, when the dogs saw the hot dog sign, their brain scans showed activation of the part of the brain that, in humans, is associated with rewards.
This experiment was designed as a proof of concept, namely, that you
could study what’s going on in a dog’s mind in real time. Now that we know it
can be done, more specific tests can be designed. The authors are quick to point
out that their test subjects entered the fMRI apparatus voluntarily and were
not restrained in any way. This took about two months of positive reinforcement
training, which included getting the dogs to wear protective ear muffs.
Gregory Berns explains:
I think it's very important that we study the neurology of other animals, especially mammals. Who knows what we could learn about ourselves! That may be the key to learning how to cure things like autism or schizophrenia.
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