Why are dogs so attached to their masters?
Between a dog and his master, it is an unparalleled complicity that can bind them. But why is this attachment so strong? At first sight, everything happens in the brain of our favorite companion.
If cats are often seen as pampered pashas, even revered, it is quite different for dogs, completely fans of their masters. This behavior has been widely accepted for a long time, but has been proven only recently by a Mexican study. If it had been proven that dogs felt the same emotions as their masters by dipping their eyes in theirs, by the secretion of oxytocin (the hormone of childbirth, anxiety, empathy and orgasm), it is now proven that a dog will be more stimulated by the vision of his master than by that of his favorite toy. Published on PLOS ONE, the study was devoted to the analysis of electrical activity of the temporal cortex (specific to mammals) in several domestic dogs in Mexico City. A Labrador, a Golden Retriever and five Border Collies were therefore trained to pass a functional magnetic resonance imaging (or fMRI), by observing several successive images (50 photos of human faces, including that of their masters, and 50 images of objects of their daily life - toys, bowls, leashes and other collars). Mexican researchers have thus found a significant difference in cranial activity, between the observation of an object or a human. In other words, the temporal cortex of your dog will be much more stimulated by seeing your face, or that of another human, by watching his favorite ball. It can even distinguish one registered face from another, unlike most non-human primates.
Would the best friend of man be replaceable?
Responding to Sciences Et Avenir, one of the leaders of this study, Laura Veronica Cuaya affirmed: "Whether it is [at the chemical level] with the secretion of oxytocin or [at the cerebral level] with the electrical activity of the temporal cortex both systems allow dogs to memorize and link emotional meaning to the faces of humans they observe. " Evoking the work of anthropologists specializing in this subject, she emphasizes the importance of the evolutionary history common to both species, to justify "a capacity absent from other primates, cats or wolves, yet social animals". Nevertheless, the researcher nuances her remarks: "cats (another species domesticated very early by humans) do not show the same kind of reactions, as do dogs in the presence of human faces, proof that a long list of 'interactions between two species is not enough to develop this capacity'. The best friend of man is difficult to replace. But a question arises: will the dog remain so for a long time or will he be abandoned by more endearing and attentive than him, whether animal or robotic?
Really Cool photo of this two dogs! Thanks for sharing this interesting post