Researchers in Hungary have now confirmedwhat many dog owners already knew.Dogs or canines can understand our feelings.Scientists using a Magnetic Resonance Scanner, or MRI,to learn about dog emotions.The research showed that they are quite similarto the emotions of humans.An MRI uses magnetic fieldsto produce images of the inside of the body.MRIs are painless,and do not require the patient to be cut open.However, the patient must remain still,and the patient must be awake to record brain activity.In the past, dogs have not being good MRI patients.They are not usually calm in a laboratory.But researchers at ELTE University in Hungarypetted the dogs and gave them food treats.As a result, the scientists were ableto capture images of the dogs' brains.Researcher Attila Andics says the study will helpexplain the relationships between dogs and humans."We have known for a long time that dogs and humansshare similar social environment,but now our results show that dogs and humansalso have similar brain mechanismsto process social information," said Andics.Researchers trained 11 dogs to stay completely stillwhile images were taken of their brains.The researchers tested the dogs' reactionsto about 200 emotional sounds,including crying, playful barking and laughing.Then they compared the dog reactionswith reactions from humans in the study.The researchers discovered that the reactions were similar.The dog brain is also being studiedat Duke University, in North Carolina.Evan MacLean is the Co-Directorof the school's Canine Cognition Center.He feels the Hungarian results are an important step forward."We've known for a long time that dogshave a lot of behavioral similarities compared to humans.But we don't know anything or very little at least aboutwhether some of these behaviorsare represented similarly inside the brain of the dog,so this research is providing a first glimpsesto whether these behavioral similaritiesare underlined by similar neural processes," said MacLean.This findings are not just important to dogsand the people who love them.Mr Andics says that the studyestablishes a new type of comparative brain science,it expands the possibilities for research.He says it was not possible to measure the brain activitiesof a non-primate and a primate in a single experiment until now.And the Hungarian scientists say the studyhas a message for ordinary dog owners too,treat your dogs as a friend, and not just an animal.Now, there is scientific proofthat they do in fact understand what you are feeling.And that's the Technology Report from VOA Learning English.更多听力请访问51voa.com