Dogs able to detect emotions in human faces: Austrian researchers

Dogs are able to distinguish between different emotions in human faces by sight, researchers from the Clever Dog Lab at Vienna' University of Veterinary Medicine found, Austrian media reported on Thursday.

Austria Press Agency reported that researchers Corsin Mueller and Ludwig Huber showed 20 dogs both a happy face and an angry face on a touch screen. In order for them to focus on smiling teeth or folds from frowning, they were first shown only the eye and mouth areas during training exercises.

The dogs were then separated into two groups, with a practice phase where each group was shown either a happy or an angry face only. Most of the animals were able to tell the difference, even after the practice phase where completely new faces were shown.

The researchers said they could see this as the group shown the happy faces touched their screens with their paws in about one third the time the group shown the angry faces did in order to complete the exercise, the latter group showing a reluctance and thus a recognition of an unhappy face.

They said it did not make a difference if they were only shown the upper or lower half of the face.

The most likely reason for their ability to recognize the difference between emotions most likely comes from their experience in normal life, they said, and could also stem from the thousands of years of relationship between humans and dogs in which the dogs have learned to understand non-verbal communication.