Archive · 21 Aug 2026
MRI Study Finds Dogs Distinguish Human Negative Emotions
Scientists used MRI scans to see how dogs’ brains react to human faces.
They found that dogs may tell fear, sadness and anger apart.
Fear seemed especially different from the other emotions.
This may be because fear and anger can require dogs to react quickly.
Sadness may seem less dangerous to them.
The study was small, with only eight and 12 dogs in its two parts.
Dogs also learn about people through voices, smells and actions.
This helps them live and communicate with humans.
MRI scans suggested dogs process fear, sadness and anger differently rather than simply sorting emotions as good or bad.
Fear produced distinct brain activity compared with sadness and anger in the dogs studied.
Different brain regions helped distinguish fear from sadness and fear from anger.
The study involved small groups of eight and 12 pet dogs, making it proof-of-concept research.
Researchers said dogs also use human voices, scents and behavior—not just facial expressions—to interpret emotions.
- Who
- Raul Hernandez-Perez, neuroscientists at the University of Vienna, and colleagues studied pet dogs’ brain responses.
- What
- Researchers used MRI scans and machine learning to examine whether dogs distinguish different human negative facial expressions.
- When
- The research was published in the journal iScience; the article does not provide a publication date.
- Where
- The scans were conducted as part of research by scientists at the University of Vienna; the article does not specify the scanning location.
- Why
- The researchers wanted to determine whether dogs distinguish individual human emotions or merely classify them as positive or negative.
- Research method
- Magnetic resonance imaging scans combined with machine-learning analysis.
- Emotions examined
- Human facial expressions of fear, sadness and anger.
- Fear versus sadness
- Activity differed in the right rostral suprasylvian gyrus.
- Fear versus anger
- Activity differed in the right mid ectosylvian gyrus and left splenial gyrus.
- Study size
- The two parts of the study included eight and 12 dogs.
- Main finding
- Dogs’ neural responses appeared to go beyond a simple good-mood versus bad-mood distinction.
- Additional emotional cues
- Dogs can also receive emotional information through human speech and scent.