家犬可以分辨人類喜怒哀樂
Surprise! Your Dog Can Tell If You Are Happy Or Angry
家犬可以分辨人類喜怒哀樂
While every dog owner knows that their pooch can discern their moods perfectly, scientists have always been a little skeptical. Now thanks to some researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, we finally have some tangible evidence.
雖然每個狗狗的主人都認爲他們的寶貝可以察覺自己的心情，科學家總會對此產生質疑。現在，通過奧地利維也納獸醫大學的研究，我們終於找到了一些確鑿證據。
For their study, biologist Corsin Müller and his team selected eleven dogs, including nine Border Collies, a Fox Terrier, and a Sheltie. They began by exposing the dogs to digital images of women that were either angry or happy. Half the dogs were rewarded for touching the screen when shown a happy face, while the other half got their treat for selecting those that appeared angry.
在他們的研究中，生物學家Corsin Müller和他的研究小組挑選了11只狗，其中包括9只邊境牧羊犬，一隻獵狐梗和一隻德國牧羊犬。最開始，他們給狗狗展示或悲或喜的女性電子版圖像，然後把狗狗分成兩組，一組成功觸摸到開心表情的狗狗會獲得獎勵，而另一組選擇憤怒表情的狗狗才會獲得獎勵。。
What was interesting was the pooches were not provided with the entire face. Some dogs were shown only upper halves while others observed lower halves. That's because the scientists who published their findings in the journal Current Biology on February 12th, believe that humans show their emotions on their entire face. Hence by exposing them to just partial expressions the researchers were teaching the dogs to recognize small nuances like the wrinkle between the eyes or the changes in their shape that accompany the happy or angry expressions.
有趣的是，他們只給狗狗看一部分臉。有些狗狗只能看到上半邊臉，而另一些則看到下半邊。因爲這項研究2月12日在《當代生物學》上發表的文章提過，人們整張臉都會流露出他們的感情。因此，給狗狗展示部分圖像，意在訓練它們察覺人面部表情的細節，比如眼角的褶皺或者眼睛形狀的變化與開心或者憤怒的表情總相伴而來。
While the dogs were able to grasp both emotions, the researchers found that those being trained to read angry expressions took longer to learn. They speculate it may be because dogs find angry faces aversive, causing them to retreat quickly.
雖然最後受訓的狗狗都能順利分辨出人的表情，科學家們發現分辨憤怒的表情對狗狗來說還是要花些時間的。他們認爲這可能是因爲狗對生氣的臉有負面聯想。
Given the close bond between dogs and their owners, most researchers are not surprised at the findings of the study. The one thing they are not sure of is how this expression discerning ability is affected if the dog does not have close human contact. And in case you are wondering, the team does plan on conducting similar studies on cats and even pigs and hand-raised wolves. So stay tuned to see if your beloved pet is as smart as dogs are!
狗和它們的主人素來比較親密，大多數科學家對此調查結果並沒有大驚小怪。不過他們還是不確定那些與人類沒有親密接觸的狗狗是否有這種能力。科學家和我們一樣好奇，他們已經計劃在貓、豬和人工飼養的狼身上進行類似實驗了。所以，讓我們關注後續實驗，看看是否其他寵物跟狗狗一樣聰明。
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