fMRI used to predict dogs not fit for service training

Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns led a team of researchers who found that when using fMRI to scan canine candidates to assist people with disabilities, images would help predict which dogs would be unfit for a rigorous service training program.

The study published in Scientific Reports scanned 43 dogs that went through service training at Canine Companions for Independence (CCI).

For the study, the dogs underwent behavioral tests that showed they had a sufficiently calm temperament before training. Although they looked calm on the outside, some dogs had high activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain paired with excitability. These dogs were more likely to fail the training program.

"The brain scans may be like taking a dog's mental temperature," said Berns in a statement. "You could think of it as a medical test with a normal range for a service dog. And the heightened neural activity that we see in the amygdala of some dogs may be outside of that range, indicating an abnormal value for a successful service dog."

To train a service dog can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000, and with the associated cost, as many as 70 percent are released from six- to -nine-month training programs because of behavioral reasons. Data suggests that this study would help eliminate dogs that are unfit for the training earlier on.

Research found that fMRI was able to increase the ability to identify dogs that would fail a program to 67 percent, up from about 47 percent.

"This type of approach is not going to be feasible for individual trainers and their dogs because of the expense of fMRI," said Bern. "It would only be practical for organizations that train large numbers of dogs every year."