For the new study Gregory Berns, a neuroscientist at Emory University, along with five colleagues, recruited a mix of 11 different breeds of dogs, to examine whether a certain part of the dogs’ brains was sensitive to numbers. Known as the parietal cortex in the human brain, this brain function helps humans to process a change in numbers. Eight of the 11 dogs passed the scanning test, showing a similar behaviour pattern to the human brain. Three dogs did not pass the test, something Berns says could be put down to their individual breeds. “It further increases our confidence that (these representations of quantity in the brain) are ancient and widespread among species,” he said.

Source: National Post December 24, 2019 15:51 UTC