Learn about the Canine Brains Project and other amazing canine science in Inside the Mind of a Dog, streaming now on Netflix!
Lectures and Webinars
The Science of German Shepherds with Sophie Barton
Lab Results Webinar with Sophie Barton
Unlocking the Behavioral Neuroscience of Dogs with Dr. Erin Hecht
Peer-Reviewed Scientific Literature
Espinosa, J., Zapata, I., Alvarez, C.E., Serpell, J., Kukekova, A., & Hecht, E.E. (2025). Influence of early life adversity and breed on aggression and fear in dogs. Scientific Reports 15, 32590 (2025).
Barton, S. A., Smaers, J. B., Serpell, J. A., & Hecht, E. E. (2025). Brain-behavior differences in pre-modern and modern lineages of domestic dogs. Journal of Neuroscience 45 (27).
Cordeau, M., Barton, S. A., & Hecht, E. E. (2025). Organization of distributed cortical connections underlying the processing of auditory information in dogs assessed by diffusion MRI. Imaging Neuroscience 3, IMAG-a.
Reilly, O. T., Somerville, L. H., & Hecht, E. E. (2024). Mechanisms of Social Attachment Between Children and Pet Dogs. Animals, 14(20), 3036.
Levin I, Sinha M, Barton SA, & Hecht EE (2024). A left-lateralized white matter tract associated with communication in domestic dogs. Current Biology, 34(21):R1069-R1070.
Barton, S.A., Kent, M., & Hecht, E. E. (2024). Covariation of skull and brain morphology in domestic dogs. Journal of Comparative Neurology, 532(9), e25668.
Sexton, C. L., Buckley, C., Sen, M., Subiaul, F., Hecht, E. E., & Bradley, B. J. (2024). Making or breaking the case for a plain face–Is human perception of canine facial expressivity influenced by physical appearance? Human-Animal Interactions, 12(1).
Sexton, C. L., Buckley, C., Lieberfarb, J., Subiaul, F., Hecht, E. E., & Bradley, B. J. (2023). What is written on a dog’s face? Evaluating the impact of facial phenotypes on communication between humans and canines. Animals, 13(14), 2385.
Barton, S. A., Kent, M., & Hecht, E. E. (2023). Neuroanatomical asymmetry in the canine brain. Brain Structure and Function, 228(7), pp. 1657-1669.
Rogers Flattery, C.N., Abdulla, M., Barton, S.A., Michlich, J.M., Trut, L.N., Kukekova, A.V. and Hecht, E.E. (2023). The brain of the silver fox (Vulpes vulpes): a neuroanatomical reference of cell-stained histological and MRI images. Brain Structure and Function, 228(5), pp. 1177-1189.
Hecht, E.E., Barton, S.A., Flattery, C.N.R. and Meza, A.M. (2023). The evolutionary neuroscience of domestication. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 27(6), pp. 553-567.
Hecht, E.E., Zapata, I., Alvarez, C.E., Gutman, D.A., Preuss, T.M., Kent, M. and Serpell, J.A. (2021). Neurodevelopmental scaling is a major driver of brain–behavior differences in temperament across dog breeds. Brain Structure and Function, 226, pp. 2725-2739.
Hecht, E.E., Kukekova, A.V., Gutman, D.A., Acland, G.M., Preuss, T.M. and Trut, L.N. (2021). Neuromorphological changes following selection for tameness and aggression in the Russian farm-fox experiment. Journal of Neuroscience, 41(28), pp. 6144-6156.
Hecht, E.E., Smaers, J.B., Dunn, W.D., Kent, M., Preuss, T.M. and Gutman, D.A. (2019). Significant neuroanatomical variation among domestic dog breeds. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(39), pp. 7748-7758.
Media Articles
I signed up my dog for a brain study at Harvard. Here’s what I learned. By By Marcela García | The Boston Globe | March 2024
Your Dog’s Emotions, Explained (Because Dogs Have Feelings, Too!) By Janelle Leeson | Rover.com | August 2023
Does your dog care if you die? By Alvin Powell | Harvard Gazette | February 2022
New wrinkle in tale of wolf-to-dog evolution By Juan Siliezar | Harvard Gazette | July 2021
Breeding Foxes for Opposite Behaviors Produces Similar Brain Changes Neuroscience News | June 2021
Did humans truly domesticate dogs? Canine history is more of a mystery than you think. By Kate McGowan | Popular Science | February 2020
Centuries of breeding have reshaped dog brains – and here’s how By Liz Langley | National Geographic | September 2019
Hunters, herders, & companions: Breeding dogs has reordered their brains By Jill Radsken | Harvard Gazette | September 2019
As humans shaped dogs’ bodies, we also altered their brains By Jason Bittel | The Washington Post | September 2019
A dog’s breed is a window onto its brain Nature | September 2019
Humans haven’t just changed what dogs look like—we’ve altered the very structure of their brains By Eva Frederick | Science | September 2019
Canine MRIs Sniff Out How Human Preferences Shaped Dog’s Hallmark Traits By Sharon Begley | Scientific American | September 2019
Different dog breeds have different brains, scientists find | By Ed Cara | Gizmodo | September 2019
Will This Dog Hunt? By William Inman | Georgia State University Magazine | Fall 2018
Podcasts & Interviews
What’s going through our dogs’ brains? Harvard is on the case | GBH Radio | Interview with Sophie Barton | March 2025
Dog Works Radio | Interview with Sophie Barton | March 2025
Innovation Showcase: The Canine Brains Project | Interview with Sophie Barton | April 2024
A Harvard study into how working dogs’ brains have evolved for their function Dogs with Jobs: Petersfield’s Shine Radio | Interview with Sophie Barton | April 2024
How centuries of selective breeding has changed the shape of dogs’ brains CBC: As It Happens | Interview with Dr. Erin Hecht | September 2019
Study Finds Humans Over Time Have “Systematically” Shaped the Brains of Dogs WBUR | Interview with Dr. Erin Hecht | September 2019