A new study reveals what dogs feel when using their smell

Solfate is not just a way to interact with the environment DogsIt is his main way to see the world. If humans are guided mainly with sight, they do this for the smell. His nose includes more than 10 million omnipothes, almost twice like us, and their ability to Smells discovered 10,000 times higher. They can only realize the minimum amounts of material, such as 0.01 microleters, gasoline, and this explains its paper that cannot be compensated in detection tasks.

However, although we know that its smell is unusual, we still understand how to explain these smells. What tests a dog when something smells of it? How do you treat your mind? Is there an emotional component in those perceptions? A new study, published last March in the magazine Biophotonics MagazineTry to shed some light on these questions.

A world that smells of it

For 30,000 years, dogs have evolved with humans. They were fishermen, guardians and followers, and recently, the allies in discovering diseases and environmental preservation tasks. In all these jobs, The smell is your main tool.

But the most interesting ever is not its amazing ability to smell, but the way his brain responds to every smell. Understanding this process opens new possibilities in training detector dogs, but it also helps us to know your inner world better.

Until now, most studies on the dog’s brain required very expensive equipment, and above all, the dog remained completely mobility, which is slightly compatible with the behavior of many individuals and races, which is greatly limited to the possibilities of research.

Laser technology and analysis with artificial intelligence

The recent study by Ilana and its team proposes an innovative alternative: analyzing brain reactions through patterns of laser light overlap and processing through artificial intelligence.

To do this, the researchers revealed four comfortable dogs and with their eyes a band of different scents: Alcohol, marijuana, Mintol and garlic. At the same time, they directed a green laser about three main areas of the brain: Tons. These fields, respectively, are involved in emotion, discovering smell and memories.

The reflected light was born a style of a unique drawing for each brain region and for each smell. Through a high -resolution room and a computer program, artificial intelligence enables a distinction between how the dog’s brain responds to each incentive.

What the dog’s brain reveals

The results indicate something very interesting: the amygdala, which treats emotions, was a great role in discrimination in the smell. This indicates that the smell not only activates sensory responses, but also emotional in dogs.

It is not just a “smell of something”, but I feel odorless. This idea is not new in humans, as smells and emotions are closely related (the smell of the meal can transmit us to childhood, for example), but in the case of dogs, this only remained in the field of assumptions.

Future applications

If the smell is very connected to emotion, it makes sense that the dog’s mood affects its ability to discover it. For example, if the dog connects a smell with a negative experience, such as visiting the veterinarian, his reaction can be affected. The same thing happens in dog education: Exposing dogs on specific odors in a positive environment can improve their learning.

The researchers also indicate that this type of studies can facilitate development Portable technology is translated in real time What is the dog smell. Light and mobile equipment allows the activity of the brain “reading” without interfering in its normal behavior.

The idea of ​​interpreting the dog of the dog may seem a scientific imagination, but it is not yet. There are already collars with artificial intelligence that promised to “translate” barking into emotions or basic needs, and although it is still to verify its accuracy, the road is decree.

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