CIMeC Research Seminar - Anaiis Racca

^6th December 2012
11am

• Dr. Anaiis Racca, Wolf Science Center – Università di Vienna

Title: What do dogs see when they look at human faces?

Abstract: The face is undoubtedly one of the most important social stimulus in humans and the cognitive system underlying face processing is considered as the pinnacle of our visual perception.  In order to fully understand the origin of the system it is necessary to investigate its origin through both phylogeny and ontogeny. One recurrent question is to know whether the system is largely organized before/at birth toward certain type of face (i.e. conspecific faces) or whether it originate from a more general experience-dependant system. The study of heterospecific face processing offers an opportunity to address this question. Considering their intense exposure to humans through both domestication and enculturation processes, the dog constitute a unique model in this respect. Can dogs discriminate between unfamiliar human faces? Can they recognize familiar ones? What visual strategies do they use to do so? Are dogs sensitive to our facial expressions of emotions? 

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