Have you ever thought about how dogs identify each other? If yes, you are going to get your answer here. Geez, you are in luck!
A Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology, named Benjamin Katz, has conducted very wholesome research. His study is known as ‘visual discrimination of species in dogs’ (Canis familiaris). With the help of this study, he has tried to show how dogs recognize each other.
After the research was done, he took Twitter to share everything. And people are loving it. He has made a whole Twitter thread and we are glad that he did because it’s simply awesome. He has also posted some of his pictures with cute fur babies. Scroll down to check them out.
“Our results explore the dog’s ability to visually discriminate 2D pictures of the faces of various species depending on whether they represent dogs or not,” the researchers wrote. “Behavioral studies investigating the capacities of dogs to use visual cues for face identification are still relatively sparse compared with humans and other animals such as non-human primates, sheep, and heifers. Compared to previous studies investigating such abilities in domestic dogs, our study is the only one using as stimuli species other than dogs and humans, that is, domestic species (cats, cows, sheep, horses, etc.) and wild species (tigers, birds, rodents, etc.).”
“Our study may suggest that dogs can form a visual category of ‘dog pattern,’” the researchers concluded. “We may then hypothesize that there may exist some invariants in dog morphotypes that allow the nine subjects to group pictures of very different dogs into a single category despite the great diversity in canid species.”
Benjamin is really happy with the way people have been responding to his wholesome thread
“I’m working with some EEG data right now,” Benjamin Katz told us. “[It’s those] brain waves you collect when the participants wear a cap with electrodes and wires sticking out of it. Data analysis can be pretty dry and I was looking for a distraction, so all of a sudden it was the most important thing in the world for me to figure out how dogs know that other dogs are dogs. When I googled it and found that the research was both rigorous and adorable, I was hooked.”
“I also like the research itself because it does help us understand dogs better. I always knew that dogs could identify each other by scent and gait. It was new to me that they also do by sight.”
“I grew up with them my whole life,” he said. “Honestly, I love how simple and straightforward they are in showing you what they like. Most of the time they walk in the room and seem surprised at what’s going on but still happy to be there. We all need that kind of vibe in our lives.”
“I actually study how people experience social approval and disapproval and I can tell you—it gave me a dopamine rush that lasted for days. Honestly, I just feel lucky that so many people came together to make such a kind and wholesome corner of the Internet. So many dog pics and videos and genuinely funny jokes are in the comments! There were some cat people who were unhappy that I said the picture of the cat was unhuggable, but that’s OK. I stand by my opinion.”
And here are some of the reactions
