Dog lovers process canine faces as if they were human

People who are more empathetic can assess facial expressions more quickly
Empathetic people also assess dogs' facial expressions more intensely
But it's possible that they over-interpret the expressions of dogs
Humans are better at recognizing threatening expressions in dogs than in humans, but rated happy facial expressions more intensely in humans

By Cecile Borkhataria For Dailymail.com

Published: 12:40 EST, 3 February 2017 | Updated: 16:20 EST, 3 February 2017

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Researchers have found that empathetic people interpret the facial expressions of dogs more intensely.

The research suggests that humans interpret dog facial expressions in a similar way to human facial expressions.

Empathy also makes people assess dogs' emotional facial expressions more rapidly.

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Humans rated happy facial expressions less intensely in dogs than they did in other humans

The research, based at the University of Helsinki and Aalto university, found that humans are good at recognizing the threatening facial expressions of dogs and considered them much more intense than similar threatening human expressions.

However, humans rated happy facial expressions less intensely in dogs than they did in other humans.

The researchers said that this may be because there is a tendency to consider the faces of one's own species as generally more pleasant.

But people experienced with dogs, such as dog trainers, were able to assess happy facial expressions in dogs more easily.

Dr Miiamaaria Kujala, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, said: 'Empathy affected assessments of dogs' facial expressions even more than previous experience of dogs, probably because the face is a biologically important stimulus for humans.

Dr Miiamaaria Kujala, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, said that people may be over-interpreting the facial expressions of dogs

HOW THEY DID THE STUDY

To conduct the study, the researchers asked 34 participants to rate six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear, and anger/aggressiveness) from images of human and dog faces with pleasant, neutral and threatening facial expressions.

The researchers also measured how the participants' personality traits, empathy levels and experience of dog behavior affected their assessments of dog and human facial expressions.

Humans classified dog facial expressions very similarly to human expressions, with the exception of happy facial expressions.

'Our earlier studies have showed, however, that when considering the entire body language of dogs, previous experience of dogs increases in importance.'

Dr Kujala also said that people may be over-interpreting the facial expressions of dogs.

'Empathy speeds up and intensifies the assessment of dogs' facial expressions, but defining the accuracy of such assessments is currently unreliable.'

The researchers also measured how the participants' personality traits, empathy levels and experience of dog behavior affected their assessments of dog and human facial expressions.

Humans classified dog facial expressions very similarly to human expressions, with the exception of happy facial expressions.

Dogs also clearly recognize the threatening expressions of both humans and other dogs.