Like-minded? Dogs and owners take part in brainwave study

Standing patiently on a small fluffy rug, Calisto the flat-coated retriever is being fitted with hi-tech headwear. But this is not a new craze in canine fashion; she is about to have her brainwaves recorded.

- Nicola Davis

Calisto is one of about 40 pet dogs taking part in a study to explore whether their brainwaves synchronise with those of their owners when the pair interact, a phenomenon seen when two humans engage with each other.

The researchers behind the work say such synchronisation would suggest person and pet are paying attention to the same things, and in certain circumstances interpreting moments in a similar way. In other words, owner and dog really are on the same wavelength.

Dr Valdas Noreika of the University of Cambridge says he got the idea for the study after working on similar experiments with mothers and their babies. "Owners modulate their language in a similar way as parents modulate when they speak to children," he says. "There are lots of similarities. That could be one of the reasons why we get so attached to dogs, because we already have these cognitive functions and capacities to attach with someone who is smaller or requires help or attention."

Dr Eleanor Raffan, also a member of the Cambridge team, says some experts have urged caution over making assumptions about the human-dog relationship, not least because it is easy to superimpose human motives and ways of thinking on to our pets. "I think what would be lovely would be to prove that there is that connection," she says.