Rhesus monkeys showed a left gaze bias towards upright human and monkey faces, but not towards inverted faces. Domestic dogs, however, only demonstrated a left gaze bias towards human faces, but not towards monkey or dog faces, nor to inanimate object images.
Dogs tend to use the right side of their brain more when viewing human faces, as revealed by their tendency to look towards the left when viewing human faces with neutral expressions. However, it is not clear if they have a side bias when observing human faces with emotional expressions.
Dogs, similarly to adult humans, show left gaze bias only towards upright positioned human faces but not towards monkey or dog faces or objects (Guo et al., 2009) and they can also learn to discriminate between neutral and happy facial emotional expressions (Deputte and Doll, 2011; Nagasawa et al., 2011).
The process of reading emotions is described by the researchers as the Left Gaze Bias or LGB. LGB is the process by which people validate emotions by scanning the face from left to right, with an emphasis on the person's right side. The reason for this bias is the asymmetrical structure of the face.
Using fMRI scans, the research team discovered no difference in dogs' mental activity when looking at human faces or the back of human heads. This suggests that dogs lack the specific face recognition functions found in the brains of humans and other primates.
Do Dogs Like Being Kissed? Really, the first question to ask is whether dogs understand kisses from people. It turns out that while dogs are pretty good at recognizing human emotions, they don't instinctively know what kisses are.
Dogs do pay attention to human faces, Andics, said. “They read emotions from faces and they can recognize people from the face alone, but other bodily signals seem to be similarly informative to them.”
A similar study in 2012 by Wake Forest University found the same - that the left side "exhibits a greater intensity of emotion, which observers find more aesthetically pleasing".
Kelsey Blackburn and James Schirillo from Wake Forest University say their work shows that images of the left side of the face are perceived and rated as more pleasant than pictures of the right side of the face. They suggest the difference might be due to a greater intensity of emotion exhibited on our left sides.
Looking to their left indicates that they're reminiscing or trying to remember something. On the other hand, looking to their right indicates more creative thoughts, and this is often interpreted as a potential sign that someone may be being deceitful in some situations, i.e. creating a version of events.
Paw preference, like handedness in humans, relates to activity in the brain's hemispheres. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, and the reverse is true for the right hemisphere. Because each hemisphere is involved in processing different emotions, laterality may impact personality and behavior.
The study found that dogs are most likely to prefer a specific paw rather than be ambidextrous, with 68 percent of canines showing either left- or right-sided paw preference. However, unlike humans who are predominately right-handed, the dog population as a whole doesn't favor a specific paw.
According to the American Kennel Club, Kong tests tend to show that dogs are equally likely to be left-pawed, right-pawed and to have no preference.
Rhesus monkeys showed a left gaze bias towards upright human and monkey faces, but not towards inverted faces. Domestic dogs, however, only demonstrated a left gaze bias towards human faces, but not towards monkey or dog faces, nor to inanimate object images.
So do dogs really judge us? Yes, definitely. New research in Behavioral Processes Journal studied how dogs evaluate levels of competence in humans. Dogs are highly sensitive to human behavior, and they evaluate us using both their direct experiences and from a third-party perspective.
Humans and dogs smell different, look different, and behave differently—so when your dog is interacting with you, he's clearly getting the signal that you're a human, not a canine. But again, just because your dog recognizes that you're not a dog doesn't mean he doesn't identify with you or have a strong bond.
Professors at the University of Melbourne, after a study conducted with active users of social networks, concluded that most of them preferred to show more of the left side of the face through photos. In fact, this side is perceived as the most attractive by most people.
The study revealed that when deciding which face looked happier participants tended to choose the left cheek over the right cheek irrespective of whether they were viewing a normal or scrambled face.
Smith (2000) reported that male and female faces were asymmetrical in opposite directions, with males having a larger area on the left side compared to the right side, and females having a larger right side compared to the left side.
They compared multiple distances on both halves of the face and found that the left side of the face was more dominant in both males and females. They also found that the middle third of the face (maxillary bone, zygomatic corner, and lower orbital border) was the most asymmetric part of the face in both sexes.
But the concept of a 'good side' has been around for centuries. And the reason most of us prefer the right lies in our brains. 'The brain controls the facial muscles and the nervous system that allows us to express emotions and communicate with one another,' explains leading neuroscientist Baroness Susan Greenfield.
Many psychologists believe that when a person looks up to their right they are likely to be telling a lie. Glancing up to the left, on the other hand, is said to indicate honesty.
They have the same feeling as a child towards their parents and so they are not just an animal but a child to us and for them we are family. If ever you wonder whether your pooch is just like your child or not, think again. For them you are their parents.
That said, dogs often treat us as like we're part of one big happy pack. They can be incredibly loyal and loving to their family members. They rely on their human alphas to take care of them. If your dog doesn't see you as their alpha and ignores your commands, some professional training may be in order.
Summary: Dogs can tell the difference between happy and angry human faces, according to a new study. The discovery represents the first solid evidence that an animal other than humans can discriminate between emotional expressions in another species, the researchers say.