The following research could have implications for companion dogs. We
all know that ignoring or rejecting a dog can be a form of punishment,
below is some research that may support this.

Brain scan shows rejection pain

Being snubbed socially provokes exactly the same brain response as
being physically hurt, say US researchers. Volunteers were asked to
play a computer game designed to fool them into feeling excluded, while
brain scans were taken at the same time.

After the computerised snub, the scan detected activity in an area of
the brain linked to physical pain.

Experts say the study, from the journal Science, is a hint to the
importance the brain places on social ties.

The researchers involved in the study, from the University of
California at Los Angeles, used an MRI scanner to probe the brains of
their test subject as their feelings were manipulated.

These scanners can detect subtle changes in blood flow to various parts
of the brain - which indicate when the region is active.

To provoke the right response, they devised an ingenious computer
simulation designed to be reminiscent of a playground game.

The participants were shown a screen which gave the appearance of a
"ball-throwing" game involving both the volunteer and two other
figures, represented by animated characters.

Psychological pain in humans, especially grief and intense loneliness,
may share some of the same neural pathways that elaborate physical pain

Dr Jaak Panksepp, Bowling Green State University, Ohio

The test subjects were told that real people were controlling the other
two "people", and the game took the form of throwing the ball in turn
between all three of them.
Of course, this was an elaborate hoax - there were no other human
players, and the other characters in the game were controlled entirely
by the computer.

At first, the game proceeded as it should, with the ball coming at
regular intervals to the player controlled by the human volunteer.

Mean machine

However, after a while, the two computer controlled characters started
throwing the ball only to each other, apparently excluding the test
subject from the game.

It was at this point that the brain reactions were measured by the
scanner.

The researchers noticed one key area of the brain "lighting up" on the
scan when this happened.

This area, the anterior cingulate cortex, is already known to be
associated with the brain's response to the unpleasant feelings linked
to physical pain.

This was not just a frustrated reaction to not being able to play -
researchers had already tested this by having a short period at the
start of the game in which the controls appeared not to work properly.

The researchers wrote: "Evidence suggests that some of the same neural
machinery recruited in the experience of pain may also be associated
with social separation or rejection."

Powerful feelings

Dr Jaak Panksepp, from the Centre for Neuroscience, Mind and Behavior
at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, said that feelings of social
exclusion were powerful instincts in animals and humans.

He said: "The feelings induced by experimental games in the laboratory,
are a pale shadow of the real-life feelings that humans and other
animals experience in response to the sudden loss of social support.

"Psychological pain in humans, especially grief and intense loneliness,
may share some of the same neural pathways that elaborate physical
pain.

"Given the dependence of mammalian young on their caregivers, it is
hard not to comprehend the strong survival value conferred by common
neural pathways that elaborate both social attachment and the affective
qualities of physical pain."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/3178242.stm[color=#]
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