Dogs really ARE man’s best friend! Pups’ brains sync with ours when we gaze into their eyes, study finds
If you’ve ever had the feeling that your dog knows exactly what you’re thinking, you might be right.
This is evident from a new study that shows that dogs’ brains sync with ours when they look into our eyes.
Scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences found that neurons in parts of the brain associated with attention became more synchronized as dogs and humans became more in tune with each other.
However, dogs with a gene that causes autism-like symptoms showed much lower synchrony.
It has long been known that human brains are in sync when we interact with each other, but this is the first time that such synchronization has been observed in the brains of different species.
Researchers have discovered that the brains of humans and dogs sync up when they look into each other’s eyes (stock image)
When people interact with each other in social situations, the activity patterns in our brains and bodies begin to become synchronized.
Unconsciously, our heart rate, breathing and the activation of neurons in the brain become the same as those of the people around us.
In their paper, published in Advanced Science, the researchers explain: ‘During social interactions, interacting individuals are not isolated, but are embedded in a multibrain system.’
Scientists recently observed that mice, bats, and monkeys experience similar synchrony when interacting with conspecifics.
Scientists monitored the brains of humans and dogs while they were either separated, in the same room, or interacting. As these graphs show, the levels of synchronization were much higher while the pair was interacting (bottom graph)
Until now, however, scientists have never observed brain synchronization between members of two different species.
To find out if this was possible, the researchers placed EEG monitors on two subjects, one human and one dog, to record their brain activity.
Dogs were chosen as test animals because research has shown that dogs have a particularly strong bond with people.
The brain activity of previously unfamiliar pairs was measured while they were in separate rooms, in the same room but not interacting, and while they were petting and looking into each other’s eyes.
Over the course of five days, the level of synchronization increased (illustrated in the bottom graphs). In the top graph, the brighter colors show brain areas that were more synchronized as the pair became more familiar
The researchers found that the pairs’ brains became much more synchronized when they were talking to each other than when they were in the same room.
The researchers write: ‘We have shown for the first time that there is a targeted brain coupling between humans and dogs, specifically in the frontal and parietal areas, both of which are associated with joint attention.’
The level of synchrony also increased significantly over the five days of testing, as the pairs became increasingly familiar with each other.
In a second experiment, participants were asked to pet the dog without making eye contact, or only make eye contact without touching it.
Both forms of interaction resulted in a higher degree of brain synchronization, but eye contact led to more activity in the frontal brain region, while petting led to activation in the parietal brain region.
In a second experiment, people either looked at the dog or petted it, revealing that physical petting and eye contact cause different parts of the brain to synchronize
By analyzing the data, the researchers found that it was humans who were leading the interaction. These graphs show the amount of data that ‘flowed’ from the human to the dog (in blue) compared to the amount of data that flowed from the dog to the human (red)
Importantly, the synchrony created by touch and eye gaze together is greater than the sum of these interactions separately.
This suggests that interactions that use more than one form of communication create a much stronger connection at the neural level.
The researchers also used these findings to deepen our understanding of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Using the CRISPR gene editing technique, the researchers created dogs with a mutation in the SHANK3 gene, one of the most common risk factors for ASD.
Dogs with this mutation exhibited clear autism-like behavior and showed significantly reduced brain synchrony when interacting with people.
The researchers found that dogs with autism-like symptoms showed no brain synchronization – a condition that could be cured with a single dose of LSD (stock image)
Dogs with a genetic mutation linked to autism showed much lower levels of brain synchrony. However, 24 hours after receiving a dose of LSD, their levels of neural connectivity returned to normal
Co-author Dr. Yong Zhang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said: ‘Disrupted interbrain synchronization could be used as a biomarker for autism.’
However, in an unusual development, the researchers also found that a single dose of the psychedelic drug LSD could almost completely reverse these effects.
The dogs were given a dose of 7.5 micrograms of LSD per kilogram of body weight, which is equivalent to a dose of 600 micrograms for an 80 kg human.
For reference, a 2021 study found that a dose of 200 micrograms was sufficient in humans to cause “ego dissolution” and “oceanic boundlessness.”
Twenty-four hours after drug administration, the researchers performed the test again and found that synchronization in the parietal and frontal regions increased significantly.
According to the researchers, these findings could pave the way for treating or managing some of the disruptive symptoms of autism spectrum disorders in people.
Dr. Zhang says, “LSD or its derivatives may alleviate the social symptoms of autism.”