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Deception between human and pet dog, an fNIRS hyperscanning study


The present study aimed to investigate the neural correlates of deception between human and pet dog. The participants were asked to deceive their dogs by giving a hand signal indicating that they would give food, but then not doing so. We measured functional near-infrared spectroscopy signals from both the deceiver (human) and the deceived (dog). Our results showed that there was no significant difference in oxyhemoglobin concentration changes between deception and non-deception conditions for either humans or dogs. However, we found significantly greater deoxyhemoglobin concentrations during deception compared with non-deception in both humans and dogs at bilateral temporal areas, suggesting increased brain activities related to emotional processing during deceptive interaction with pets. Our study provides evidence for shared neural mechanisms underlying social interactions involving trustful relationships such as those between human-dog dyads.



Interactions between humans and their pets are an important part of our everyday lives. Dogs are known as sensitive and loyal companions. The present study investigated the neural correlates of deception in dogs and their human companions. Hyperscanning was used to investigate the activation of the left temporal pole, the right temporal pole, and the right prefrontal cortex in dogs and their human partners during a cooperative communicative task in which the dog had to deceive its human partner. Dogs and their partners were equipped with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) hyperscanning caps to measure concurrent changes in oxy- and deoxy-hemoglobin concentrations in the temporal cortex. We found that when dogs looked at their human partner, activation was observed in the left temporal pole, the right temporal pole, and the right prefrontal cortex, whereas activation was not observed in the human temporal pole or the human prefrontal cortex. Our findings suggest that human-to-dog deception may be associated with increased activation in the right temporal pole and the right prefrontal cortex, whereas dog-to-human deception is associated with increased activation in the left temporal pole and the right prefrontal cortex. Our findings may provide new insights into the evolutionary history of human-dog communication and the role of the temporal pole and the prefrontal cortex in social cognition.






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