Dogs can't tell the difference between a human face and the back of the head?

The researchers found that, unlike humans, dogs do not have regions of the brain dedicated to responding to human faces.

Study co-author Dr. Attila Andics from Eötvös Loránd University (Hungary) said: "It's amazing that dogs are so good at reading emotions and recognizing faces, despite the fact that they do. It doesn't seem to be a focus on the brain in the face."

The team found no difference in any brain region when dogs were shown a human face or a dog face with the back of their head.

Andics said further analysis showed that the dog's brain was primarily concerned with looking at a dog or a human, while the human brain was primarily concerned with looking at faces.

Dogs don't rely very much on faces when communicating, but that doesn't mean your pet ignores them entirely, says Andics. In contrast, dogs' brains don't pay particular attention to faces, which may have something to do with the fact that the animals understand many physical cues, reports The Guardian.

Professor Sophie Scott, Director of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UK), explained that dogs may be less likely to rely on facial information than other information. "One of the main ways dogs know who their friends are and what they're doing is through smell," she said.

However, Dr. Daniel Dilkes, an expert in the human visual cortex at Emory University in the US, said the study does not conclusively prove that dogs do not have the brain regions that distinguish faces.