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Visual event-related potentials of dogs: a non-invasive electroencephalography study

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Abstract

Previously, social and cognitive abilities of dogs have been studied within behavioral experiments, but the neural processing underlying the cognitive events remains to be clarified. Here, we employed completely non-invasive scalp-electroencephalography in studying the neural correlates of the visual cognition of dogs. We measured visual event-related potentials (ERPs) of eight dogs while they observed images of dog and human faces presented on a computer screen. The dogs were trained to lie still with positive operant conditioning, and they were neither mechanically restrained nor sedated during the measurements. The ERPs corresponding to early visual processing of dogs were detectable at 75–100 ms from the stimulus onset in individual dogs, and the group-level data of the 8 dogs differed significantly from zero bilaterally at around 75 ms at the most posterior sensors. Additionally, we detected differences between the responses to human and dog faces in the posterior sensors at 75–100 ms and in the anterior sensors at 350–400 ms. To our knowledge, this is the first illustration of completely non-invasively measured visual brain responses both in individual dogs and within a group-level study, using ecologically valid visual stimuli. The results of the present study validate the feasibility of non-invasive ERP measurements in studies with dogs, and the study is expected to pave the way for further neurocognitive studies in dogs.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Academy of Finland (project #137931 to OV, and #115215 and #137511 to CMK), Foundations’ Post-Doc Pool (Kone Foundation), Finnish Cultural Foundation, Advancement of Technology Foundation, Emil Aaltonen Foundation and the BRAHE network (Brain Research collaboration between Aalto University and the University of Helsinki). We thank Timo Murtonen for the custom-made dog chin rest and EEG trigger system; Aino Pikkusaari, Pirkko Nokkala and Martti Siimekselä for the stimulus photos; Mari Palviainen for the help in training of the dogs and conducting the EEG pilot measurements; Tarja Pääkkönen for the advice in the EEG recordings; Mari Vainionpää for the help in the computed tomography acquisition; Antti Flyck and Kristian Törnqvist for the technical support and Katja Irvankoski for the help with Presentation® software.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Heini Törnqvist, Miiamaaria V. Kujala, Sanni Somppi & Outi Vainio

  2. Cognitive Science, Institute of Behavioural Sciences, Faculty of Behavioural Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Heini Törnqvist & Christina M. Krause

  3. Brain Dynamics and Cognition Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Center, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR5292, Bron, France

    Miiamaaria V. Kujala & Jan Kujala

  4. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Computational Science, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Miiamaaria V. Kujala

  5. Department of Production Animal Medicine, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Laura Hänninen

  6. Department of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Matti Pastell

  7. Brain Research Unit, O. V. Lounasmaa Laboratory, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Jan Kujala

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  1. Heini Törnqvist
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Correspondence to Heini Törnqvist.

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Törnqvist, H., Kujala, M.V., Somppi, S. et al. Visual event-related potentials of dogs: a non-invasive electroencephalography study. Anim Cogn 16, 973–982 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0630-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-013-0630-2

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