Have you ever wondered what’s going on in your dog’s head? You can better understand your dog’s mind and their behavior by learning about their brain. This page and its subpages delves into the exciting new field of canine neuroscience, highlighting similarities and differences with the human brain.
The dog brain is made up of ~2.2 billion cells called neurons. Neurons transmit information through electrical and chemical signals. Because human brains are much larger than dog brains, they have many more neurons – about 85 billion of them.
Populations of neurons make up brain regions, which are structures in the brain that perform certain tasks. Dogs, humans, and other mammal species have many of the same brain regions. For example, both dog and human brains have a caudate nucleus, which plays a role in reward.
Brain regions that share connections and work together make up networks. Brain networks produce sensations, thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Through brain imaging, scientists have discovered that dogs and human brains possess similar networks. One of those networks is the sensorimotor network, which produces movements.
Genes play a large role in determining brain regions and networks in dogs and other species. However, environmental experience further shapes structures in the brain. This means that the brain of each dog is a unique combination of genetic and environmental influences.
The Canine Brains Project seeks to better understand how nature and nurture determine the structure and function of the dog brain. Check out our MRI studies page to learn more about those research projects.
To learn more, explore these pages: