Although dogs stare into human eyes, dog brains may not process faces the way human brains do. A new study suggests that dogs' visual system is organized differently:The facial network found in primates may not extend to all mammals.
Faces are a critical part of communication for humans and other primates, so much so that faces have a special status in their visual system. Areas in the face network, such as the fusiform face area, are activated specifically for faces. Dogs also care about faces, but they may not have facial zones.
Bunford, Hernández-Pérez et al. used fMRI to compare the brain activity of humans and dogs while watching short videos of other humans and dogs. Human brains showed a preference for faces, meaning that some visual areas had more activity in response to a face compared to the back of the head. A subset of these regions also showed species preference, with increased activity in response to viewing a human over a dog. In contrast, dog brains only showed species preference. Visual areas had more activity in response to seeing a dog over a human, and there was no difference in activity between seeing a face and the back of the head.
