While everyone knows that dogs recognize their owners in person, have you ever wondered if they recognize people in photos as well? A new eye-movement study from the University of Helsinki in Finland showed that dogs recognize us in images too. Isn't that awesome?

Thirty-one dogs were shown videos displaying faces of both humans and dogs. Some of the faces were familiar such as faces of their owners, dogs of the same family, and some were strangers.

According to the study leader Dr. Outi Vainio, the results confirmed that dogs are able to perceive faces in the images. They also noted that dogs were more likely to fix their gaze on the image of a familiar face than that of a stranger. In addition, dogs were more likely to fix their gaze on other dogs, whether they were familiar with them or not!

This new research was published online in January 2014 in the peer-reviewed journal, Animal Cognition.

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