Comparing the neural correlates of socio-cognitive skills across species provides insights into the evolution of the social brain and has revealed face- and body-sensitive regions in the primate temporal lobe. Although from a different lineage, dogs share convergent visuo-cognitive skills with humans and a temporal lobe which evolved independently in carnivorans. We investigated the neural correlates of face and body perception in dogs (N = 15) and humans (N = 40) using functional MRI. Combining univariate and multivariate analysis approaches, we found functionally analogous occipito-temporal regions involved in the perception of animate entities and bodies in both species and face-sensitive regions in humans. Though unpredicted, we also observed neural representations of faces compared to inanimate objects, and dog compared to human bodies in dog olfactory regions. These findings shed light on the evolutionary foundations of human and dog social cognition and the predominant role of the temporal lobe.

比较不同物种社会认知技能的神经相关性，可以深入了解社会大脑的进化，并揭示灵长类颞叶中的面部和身体敏感区域。尽管狗的血统不同，但它们与人类具有趋同的视觉认知技能，并且具有在食肉动物中独立进化的颞叶。我们使用功能性 MRI 研究了狗 ( N = 15) 和人类 ( N = 40) 面部和身体感知的神经相关性。结合单变量和多变量分析方法，我们发现功能相似的枕颞区参与了物种和人类面部敏感区域对动物实体和身体的感知。尽管出乎意料，我们还观察到了狗嗅觉区域中人脸与无生命物体的神经表征，以及狗与人体的神经表征。这些发现揭示了人类和狗的社会认知的进化基础以及颞叶的主要作用。