Inside the Dog Brain: Centre for the Creative Brain

St Edmund Hall’s Centre for the Creative Brain held their Michaelmas term event ‘Inside the Dog Brain’ with Guide Dogs UK on Friday 25 November 2022. The Hall welcomed Sam Arnsby, an Apprentice Guide Dog Mobility Instructor at Irish Guide Dogs, Dr Magdalena Boch, a postdoctoral researcher studying the canine brain, and Nicole and Yvonne, volunteers from Guide Dogs UK.

The event began with Yvonne describing her experience as a “guide dog mum” of guide dog litters and what happens during the dogs’ early years. Next, Nicola spoke about her experiences having a guide dog and how it improved her quality of life significantly, enabling her to get out and about and allowing her independence again.

Magdalena then described her research (alongside adorable photos of dogs in MRI machines). She talked about the similarities and differences between dog and human brains. She is particularly interested in how the brains evolved, since humans and dogs are both highly sociable despite our brains not being closely related.

Finally, Sam started off with speaking briefly about operant and classical conditioning, before telling us all about how he teaches dogs to be confident in their decision-making. He described how he makes his dogs feel ‘a million dollars’ so that they can be resilient and confident when faced with obstacles in the real world.

It was clear just how much the audience had enjoyed the event, with many hanging around afterwards for at least 45 minutes to chat to the speakers!

All  Centre for the Creative Brain Events are free and open to all. The Centre for the Creative Brain is generously endorsed by St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford.