Subject 2, aka McKenzie, inside the FMRI machine. Image: Berns et al./SSRN
Brain scans of dogs could give researchers a new tool for studying what happens in the mind of man’s best friend.
“I think it could open a whole new type of research on cognition, ” said neuroscientist Greg Berns of Emory University, lead author on a dog-scanning study that will be published in Public Library of Science One.
Berns described the initial findings, in which brain regions expected to become active in anticipation of reward did just that, as a proof-of-concept to show that studying a dog inside a functional magnetic resonance imager was logistically feasible.
According to Berns, who typically investigates how human decision-making plays out in our brains, dogs may be a better animal model for studying cognition than the monkeys commonly used in such research.
FMRI representations of neurological activity produced by reward anticipation in the brains of Callie and McKenzie. Image: Berns et al./SSRN
To a monkey, a laboratory full of humans is a profoundly strange and unnatural environment, which could influence how it thinks — whereas interacting with humans is second nature to dogs.
Of course, standing inside an FMRI machine isn’t exactly a normal canine experience, and Berns’ team needed eight months to train his dogs, a 2-year-old feist named Callie and a 3-year-old border collie named McKenzie, to remain motionless inside the machine while wearing noise-reducing earmuffs.
Among the questions that might be studied is whether dogs understand the language of human commands, or respond more to body movements or other cues.
“One of the things we’re interested in is how dogs represent humans: Are we all just a pack to them, like Cesar Millan says? What part of the brain represents humans and other dogs? It could be sound, or scent, or any of those modalities, ” Berns said.
Dog empathy, and how it compares to the human version, is another possible area of investigation.
“Dog-lovers are convinced their dogs know what they’re feeling. Honestly, I’m on the fence about that. Maybe that’s because of my own dogs, ” said Berns. “Skeptics out there — a.k.a. cat people — think dogs are just good actors. I don’t think it’s quite like that. But how far it goes, I’d love to figure out.”
Citation: “Functional MRI in Awake Unrestrained Dogs.” By Gregory Berns, Andrew Brooks and Mark Spivak. Public Library of Science ONE, publication date to-be-determined.
- functional ['f??k??nl]adj. 功能的
- resonance ['rez?n?ns]n. [力] 共振；共鸣；反响
- canine ['keinain]adj. 犬的；犬齿的；犬科的；似犬的; n. ...
- typically ['tipik?li]adv. 代表性地；作为特色地
- profoundly [pr?u'faundli]adv. 深刻地；深深地；极度地
- feasible ['fi:z?bl]adj. 可行的；可能的；可实行的
- magnetic [m?ɡ'netik]adj. 地磁的；有磁性的；有吸引力的
- collie ['k?li]n. 柯利牧羊狗（原产苏格兰）
- representation [,reprizen'tei??n]n. 代表；表现；表示法；陈述
- interact ['int?r?kt]vi. 互相影响；互相作用; vt. 互相影响；...
大脑扫描看看你的狗在想什么
科目2 ，又名麦肯齐，在功能磁共振成像仪里（FMRI）。图片：伯恩斯等/ 社科研究网（SSRN）
狗的大脑扫描这种新的技术，可以让研究人员研究人类最好的朋友的大脑发生了什么。
“我认为这可以开辟在认知领域整个研究的新类型，”埃默里大学的神经科学家格雷格·伯恩斯说，作者对狗的扫描研究成果将发表在公共科学图书馆的杂志上。
伯恩斯描述了初步的研究结果，对狗的大脑进行扫描时，期待奖励的区域就像预料的那样活跃，作为一个概念证据，表明内部功能磁共振成像仪对狗进行研究是最合适不过了。
按伯恩斯的说法，通常探讨人类的大脑如何更有效地进行工作，狗可能是更理想的动物模型，比在这样的认知研究中常用的猴子还要理想。
考利和麦肯齐大脑中奖励预期产生的神经活动FMRI成像图。图片：伯恩斯等/ SSRN
对于猴子来说，站满人的实验室是一个极度陌生和不自然的环境，这可能影响它的思维—而狗则不然，与人类相互作用是它的第二天性。
当然，站在的功能磁共振成像机里面的狗并不是那么老实，伯恩斯的团队用了8个月的时间来训练他的狗，一个2岁的名叫考利的小狗和3岁的名为麦肯思的博德牧羊犬，它们戴着降噪的耳罩在机器内一动不动。
研究的问题里包括狗是否能够理解人类发出的指令，通过身体动作或其他线索做出更多的应答。
“我们感兴趣的事情之一是狗是如何看待人类的：是像塞萨尔·米伦说的我们在它们的眼里都只是一个包裹一样的东西吗？狗的大脑的哪些部分代表对人类的印象，哪部分代表对其他的狗的印象？可能是一种声音，或一种气味，或任何其他的什么东西，“伯恩斯说。
狗和人类换一下位置进行比较，是另一种可行的研究方向。
“狗的爱好者都相信他们的狗知道他们的感受。说实话，我也这样认为。也许是因为我自己也有狗，“伯恩斯说。“怀疑论者—或者说猫的爱好者—认为狗是很好的演员。我不完全这样认为。但有多大的差距，我很想弄清楚。“
引用： “狗在自由状态下的功能磁共振成像情况。”格雷戈里·伯恩斯、安德鲁·布鲁克斯、马克·斯皮瓦克。公共科学图书馆-综合，出版日期待定。
