Researchers from the University of Pisa have discovered that dogs can imitate each other much like humans can. The team's study showed that dogs are capable of emotional contagion and rapid mimicry between each other, and they connected these findings to the possibility that dogs may be capable of empathy.
It has long been known that humans and other primates can mimic the expressions of others around them - for example, if a person smiles, any other person around them will likely do the same. This type of mimicking behavior comprises a process that researchers call emotional contagion, where the emotions of one person can alter the emotions of another, which can subsequently be transferred to a third individual, fourth individual, and so on, according to Phys,org.
Emotional contagion goes far past simple copycatting, as it is a behavior that can affect the moods of other people. A mother playing peek-a-boo with a baby can cause her child to smile, which then causes her to smile and stimulates a feeling of happiness.
In the new study, the researchers filmed interactions between 23 male and 26 female dogs at a local dog park with ages that ranged from 3 months to 6 years old. Afterwards, they took the video back to their laboratory and examined the footage.
Analysis of the video discovered two types of mimicry - bowing using their front legs and opening their mouths in a non-threatening way. Furthermore, they found that dogs that knew each other were more prone to mimic each other on a more frequent basis, as opposed to dogs that didn't know each other who were less prone to mimic each other.
The researchers also noted that 76 percent of the dogs at the park engaged in some kind of mimicking behavior, and those that did tended to play together for a longer period of time. These results suggest that dogs may feel empathy for one another, although further research will need to be conducted to validate this possibility.
The findings were published in the Dec. 23 issue of Royal Society Open Science.
