02158nas a2200421   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002260001200043653002700055653001800082653001900100653001200119653001000131653001800141653001000159653001400169653000900183653000900192653001300201653001200214653002100226653000900247653001100256653001800267653001300285653001000298653002700308653001700335653002000352100001800372700002100390245008200411856004000493300001000533490000700543520117200550022001401722       2018                            d  c2018-0110aanimal experimentation10aanimal rights10aanimal welfare10aAnimals10aBrain10aBrain Mapping10aChild10aCognition10aCues10aDogs10aEmotions10aEmpathy10aEthics, Research10aFace10aHumans10aNeurosciences10aPleasure10aVoice10aanimal experimentation10aneuroimaging10aResearch ethics1 aJarrod Bailey1 aShiranee Pereira00aAdvances in neuroscience imply that harmful experiments in dogs are unethical  uhttps://jme.bmj.com/content/44/1/47  a47-520 v443 aFunctional MRI (fMRI) of fully awake and unrestrained dog 'volunteers' has been proven an effective tool to understand the neural circuitry and functioning of the canine brain. Although every dog owner would vouch that dogs are perceptive, cognitive, intuitive and capable of positive emotions/empathy, as indeed substantiated by ethological studies for some time, neurological investigations now corroborate this. These studies show that there exists a striking similarity between dogs and humans in the functioning of the caudate nucleus (associated with pleasure and emotion), and dogs experience positive emotions, empathic-like responses and demonstrate human bonding which, some scientists claim, may be at least comparable with human children. There exists an area analogous to the 'voice area' in the canine brain, enabling dogs to comprehend and respond to emotional cues/valence in human voices, and evidence of a region in the temporal cortex of dogs involved in the processing of faces, as also observed in humans and monkeys. We therefore contend that using dogs in invasive and/or harmful research, and toxicity testing, cannot be ethically justifiable.  a1473-4257