Have you ever looked deeply into your dog’s eyes and felt extremely connected to them? A new study revealed that when we do this with our dogs, we go through a moment of brain synchronization.
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Previous studies had already shown that this happens with humans: when we talk to someone else or need to work as a team, our brains synchronize. However, researchers from China discovered that the same occurs between owners and their dogs.
“We observed that interbrain correlations in the frontal and parietal regions increased dramatically… during mutual gaze,” the authors of the study published in the journal Advanced Science, led by biologist Wei Ren from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, write.
The researchers measured brain activity in humans and dogs by placing electrodes on the skulls of the volunteers. For the test, 10 young beagles were paired with unknown humans. Over five days, the pairs had time to get to know each other better.
In the experiments, the human-dog pairs engaged in non-verbal communication, such as mutual gazes or a good old pat. As a control, the human and the dog also stayed in the same room without interacting.
When the human participants were simply petting the dogs, the team observed some patterns of synchronization. But when the humans were asked to pet the dogs and look into their eyes, the interbrain activity between the two was even more connected than when they were just patting or only looking at the dogs.
Additionally, the researchers found that interbrain synchronization between the human-dog pairs increased during the study period, suggesting that the bond between the two was strengthening over time.
Although the study is small and more research is needed, these dogs may serve as a useful model for studying the neural mechanisms underlying social deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), according to the scientists.
This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
