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Dogs have pet facial expressions to use on humans, study finds
Dogs really do turn on the puppy eyes when humans look at them, according to researchers studying canine facial expressions. Scientists have discovered that dogs produce more facial movements when a human is paying attention to them – including raising their eyebrows, making their eyes appear bigger – than when they are being ignored or presented with a tasty morsel.
The research pushes back against the belief that animal facial expressions are largely unconscious movements, that reflect internal sentiments, rather than a way to communicate. "Facial expression is often seen as something that is very emotionally driven and is very fixed, and so it isn't something that animals can change depending on their circumstances," said Bridget Waller, professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Portsmouth, and an author of the study.
Also at Popular Science.
Human attention affects facial expressions in domestic dogs (open, DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-12781-x) (DX)
Earlier research: Paedomorphic Facial Expressions Give Dogs a Selective Advantage (open, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082686) (DX)
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(Score: 3, Interesting) by opinionated_science on Monday October 23 2017, @10:30AM (2 children)
An *atrocious* article.
We (humans) have applied many millenia of breeding selection to canines to take the wolf that tried to eat us, and turn it into the domestic mammalian servant we have today.
Domestication "dumbs" down animals and since we (humans) have been free to pick the "cute" ones for centuries.
We now have dogs(and cats) that fill all sorts of anthropomorphism check boxes.
Especially if you *feed* them they'll be very compliant...but they cannot interpret the meaning in the same way as the human *producing* the emotion.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday October 23 2017, @12:01PM
Are "working dogs" [akc.org] dumbed down?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 23 2017, @08:18PM
It is clear from your comments that you are not familiar with the research in the article, or the research in general. They specifically address your concerns.