A study shows a similarity between the way dogs and humans react to voices. MRI research reveals that dogs process our voices and emotions like humans. Dog writer Claudia Bensimoun explains how science proves dogs truly understand us.
By Claudia Bensimoun, Dog Behavior Writer & Pet Expert
First published in 2014 by Claudia Bensimoun: World Cynosport Rally & USDAA
Dogs have always seemed to understand us — from the tone of our voice to the joy or sadness behind it. Now, science confirms what pet parents have long suspected: dogs don’t just hear us, they feel us. Groundbreaking research led by Dr. Attila Andics at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Eötvös Loránd University reveals that dogs’ brains process voices and emotions in a strikingly similar manner to the human brain. This discovery sheds light on how deeply dogs are attuned to our emotional world, offering new insight into the centuries-old bond between humans and their canine companions.
Until recently, little was known about how dogs react to voices and whether they react in the same way humans do. By studying 11 dogs exposed to 200 different sounds, Dr. Attila Andics, from the Comparative Ethology Research Group at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, compared how those dogs processed sounds with the results of the same tests conducted on 22 human volunteers.
A recent study by Dr. Andics has shown that a dog’s brain responds to voices like that of the human brain, suggesting that perhaps our furry best friends process emotions like humans. Dr. Andics and his team placed dogs in an MRI scanner to observe how dogs and humans process different sounds. The researchers aimed to determine how significantly the process differed between dogs and humans. It’s no surprise that the human brain is especially tuned into voices, so why should dogs be any different?
Until now, not much was known about how dogs process voices. “We think dogs and humans have a very similar mechanism to process emotional information,” explains Dr. Andics. Eleven dogs participated in this study, and all the dogs underwent some training.
“There were 12 sessions of preparatory training, then seven sessions in the scanner room, [and] then these dogs were able to lie motionless for as long as eight minutes. Once they were trained, they were so happy that I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it. We used positive reinforcement strategies, [with] lots of praise, added Dr. Andics.
The researchers found that a similar region in both human and animal brains, the temporal pole (the most anterior region of the temporal lobe), was stimulated when both animals and people heard people talking. “We do know there are voice areas in humans, areas that respond more strongly to human sounds than any other types of sounds. The location (of the activity) in the dog brain is very similar to where we found it in the human brain. The fact that we found these areas exist at all in the dog brain at all is a surprise; it is the first time we have seen this in a non-primate.”
The researchers found that emotional sounds, such as crying and laughter, exhibited a similar pattern of activity, with the area near the primary auditory cortex lighting up in both dogs and humans. Furthermore, emotionally charged vocalizations, such as whimpering or aggressive barking, resulted in similar reactions in all volunteers.
“We know very well that dogs are very good at tuning into the feelings of their owners, and we know a good dog owner can detect emotional changes in his dog, but we now begin to understand why this can be,” adds Dr. Andics. Still, dogs tended to respond more to canine sounds; their reactions were less intense when it came to human sounds. It was also evident that dogs were less able to distinguish between environmental sounds and vocal noises compared with humans.
Professor Sophie Scott, from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University College, London, explains that “finding something like this in a primate brain isn’t too surprising, but it is quite something to demonstrate it in dogs. Dogs are fascinating animals to observe; we have selectively bred many traits in dogs that have made them highly adaptable to humans.
Some studies have shown that they understand a lot of words and recognize intentionality (such as pointing). It would be interesting to see the animal’s response to words rather than sounds. When we cry and laugh, they are much more like animal calls, and this might be the cause of the reaction. A step further would be if they had gone in and shown sensitivity to words in the language their owners speak,” explains Professor Scott.
What this study reveals is simple yet profound: our dogs don’t just hear us; they understand us. Their brains light up at laughter, soften in response to sadness, and react to emotions just as ours do. This groundbreaking MRI study reveals that dogs’ brains process voices and emotions through mechanisms remarkably similar to our own. The shared activity between species highlights an evolutionary empathy that deepens the human–canine bond at its neurological core.
For every dog parent, that’s an invitation to speak kindly, praise often, and recognize that your voice is one of your dog’s strongest emotional cues. It’s science affirming what love has always known.
Research References & Resources
Voice-Sensitive Regions in the Dog and Human Brain Are Revealed by Comparative fMRI
Andics, A., Gácsi, M., Faragó, T., Kis, A., & Miklósi, Á.
Current Biology (2014), 24(5), 574–578.
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.01.058
Claudia Bensimoun, Dog Behavior Writer, Dog Expert, BarkUpToday Pet Behavior, Dogs Brain Scans, Dog Vocal Responses, Canine Emotional Processing, Dog and Human Brain Similarities, Attila Andics Study, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Eötvös Loránd University, Comparative Ethology Research Group, Dog MRI Research, Dog Neuroscience, Dog Cognition Study, Canine Empathy, Voice Recognition in Dogs, Dog and Human Bond, Dog Behavior Science, Dog Training Insights 2025, Canine Cognitive Research, Pet Communication, Dog Emotion Recognition, Dog Social Attentiveness, Dog Owner Connection, Science of Dogs and Humans