Dogs have long been man's best friend, living as our domesticated companions for as long as 32,000 years.
Today, they are one of the most popular pets in the US, found in over 54 million American homes, or about 44% of all households.
And every one of us thinks that our dog is uniquely special and smart. But how much do we actually know about our furry buddies and what's going on inside their heads?
To find out more about our four-legged friends, we spoke to Dr. Brian Hare, professor of cognitive neuroscience at Duke University, author of the book "The Genius of Dogs," and host of the new DogSmarts podcast.
"What really has happened in the last 10 years is that we've learned more about how dogs think than in the previous 100 years," Hare told Business Insider. "There have been a lot of big discoveries … Dogs are very distinctly different from us genetically, but psychologically, they are more like us than some of our more closely related, more genetically related primate relatives."
Here are a few of the recent discoveries that Hare and other scientists have made about dogs:
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1. Dogs empathize with us.
When you look at your dog and yawn, chances are your dog might yawn, too, because dogs can "catch" your yawn, according to a 2008 study published in Biology Letters. This is called "emotional contagion," and it's a basic form of empathy.
Previous research has shown that primates could "catch" yawning, but this was the first study to show that human yawns are possibly contagious to domestic dogs as well.
Dogs are believed to empathize with us in other ways as well. Research suggests that they are sensitive to their guardians' emotions and that their behavior is influenced by the expression of these emotions. A study from the University of Helsinki found that dogs can sense when their owners are angry and have even evolved to respond accordingly. Another study found that dogs respond in a similar way, physiologically and behaviorally, to humans when they hear a human baby crying— another example of emotional contagion.
2. Dogs want eye contact with us.
Dogs are the only nonprimate animal to look people in the eyes without misinterpreting what it means, Mic reports.
Wolves, meanwhile, interpret eye contact as a sign of hostility, according to Science Magazine.
3. With eye contact, they grow attached to us.
Eye contact has an important effect on both human and dog brains.
"Just by making eye contact with dogs," said Hare, "we have an increase in oxytocin." Oxytocin, sometimes referred to as the "love hormone," plays an important role in attachment-forming, bonding, and trust.
Usually, this kind of response — an increase in the hormone to facilitate bonding — occurs only between parents and their children, or maybe romantic partners, Hare said. This "is the first time that it has been shown that different species, dog and human, can interact and affect the oxytocin loop."
See the rest of the story at Business Insider