Dogs are renowned for their exceptional ability to identify and track objects by scent. Now, new research reveals that this talent is enhanced by unique brain structures linking their sense of smell to their vision.
A study published this month in the Journal of Neuroscience has discovered that in dogs, the olfactory and visual systems are connected in the brain—a connection not yet identified in any other species.
“The most interesting aspect of this research is the connections from the nose up to the occipital lobe, which houses the visual cortex,” said veterinary neurologist Philippa Johnson, an associate professor at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine and senior author of the study.
Johnson and her colleagues examined MRI scans of the brains of 23 dogs, revealing neurological connections between the olfactory bulb, where smells are recognized, and the occipital lobe, where vision is processed.
Humans, who primarily rely on vision, lack such connections, though Johnson speculated that similar structures might exist in other scent-dependent animals.
The discovery suggests that smell and vision are integrated in dogs’ brains, although the exact nature of this integration remains unclear. “Scent contributes to the visual cortex in dogs, but a dog’s experience is hard for us to know,” Johnson said. “But I think they can use scent to work out where things are.”
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