Abstract

HELBLING, Julia; BARRERA, Gabriela  and  BENTOSELA, Mariana. ¿Pueden los perros domésticos (Canis lupus familiaris) reconocer expresiones emocionales humanas? Una revisión crítica de las evidencias. Rev. etol. [online]. 2014, vol.13, n.1, pp. 47-59. ISSN 1517-2805.

Emotional expressions play a critical role in the interactions among individuals, particularly, in social species. They provide information about the sender and the characteristics and importance of the triggering stimulus or situation, also regulating social ties. Dogs have notorious communication skills towards humans, which makes the study of their ability to recognize human emotional expressions an interesting endeavor. There have been several studies in which dogs have been tested using real people in an experimental situation as well as images, video and audio recordings of people's expressions. The evidence suggests that dogs can discriminate between different human emotions either in the presence of live models or by looking at images. This type of information has been shown to modulate their behavior and to be used as cues to solve problems. However, the mechanisms underlying these abilities are not fully understood yet.

Keywords : Emotional expressions; visual cues; verbal cues; human-dog relationship; communication.

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