Dogs are considered to be man's best friend but do you know that all the expressions your canine friend gives it's not unconscious movements, they are actually dedicated to you? A recent research revealed that they produce more facial movements when humans are paying attention to them.
The research, which was done on domestic dogs, showed that when humans pay attention to them they raise their eyebrows and make their eyes appear bigger. The study debunked the common belief that animal facial expressions are largely unconscious movements.
Bridget Waller, a professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Portsmouth, and an author of the study said: "Facial expression is often seen as something that is very emotionally driven and is very fixed, and so it isn't something that animals can change depending on their circumstances."
The study published in the journal Scientific Reports involved using a video camera to record the facial movements of 24 dogs over a series of experiments in which a human either faced the animal, or faced away, and presented the dog with a tidbit, or did not.
It was noted that the pooches showed more of facial expression when the humans paid attention to them than when they turned away from them. According to The Guardian, the research joins a number of studies probing the relationship between humans and dogs that suggest dogs understand both the words and the tone of human speech.
Frame by frame the recordings were then examined by the team to determine the changes in the facial muscles of the canines. It was interestingly noted that the presence of food had absolutely no impact on the expression of the animals.
"We wanted to see if dogs would produce the most facial expressions when they saw the face and the food because that might then tell us they are trying to intentionally manipulate the human in order to get the food – and we didn't see that," Waller added.
Walter explained that the research proved that their facial expressions are not just limited to other dogs but humans as well. "[That] tells us something about how domestication has shaped [dogs], and that it has changed them in order to be more communicative with humans, in a sense," he added.
Another author of the study, also from the University of Portsmouth, Juliane Kaminski said: "I think this adds to a growing body of evidence that dogs are sensitive to our attention...Which is not necessarily something that a dog owner would be surprised about."
