Dogs distinguish human emotions in brain scans, Vienna study finds

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Dogs distinguish human emotions in brain scans, Vienna study finds?

Of the 149 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 17% are rated left, 64% are rated centre, 19% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 183. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.

Is Dogs distinguish human emotions in brain scans, Vienna study finds left or right?

Neither side dominates it. Of the 149 rated outlets on this story, 17% are rated left, 64% are rated centre, 19% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.

Is the coverage of Dogs distinguish human emotions in brain scans, Vienna study finds biased?

Dogs distinguish human emotions in brain scans, Vienna study finds is one event reported by 183 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.

Which outlets covered Dogs distinguish human emotions in brain scans, Vienna study finds?

183 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.

Which brain regions did the study find are activated by happy human faces?

The study found that happy human faces activate the temporal cortex and caudate nucleus in dogs’ brains. These regions are associated with higher cognitive functions and reward processing, respectively. The finding was published in the journal iScience by researchers at the University of Vienna.

Can dogs distinguish between different negative emotions?

Yes, the study provided the first neural evidence that dogs can distinguish between specific negative emotions like fear, anger and sadness. Brain scans showed distinct patterns of activity for each emotion, separate from the response to happiness. The research was conducted by the University of Vienna.

Did all the outlets report the same details about the study?

No. The left-rated digests emphasised the emotional bond and evolutionary implications, while the centre-rated digests focused on the brain regions involved. The right-rated digests led on the study’s novelty but omitted the finding about happy faces activating specific brain regions.