Anderson Cooper thought his dog was 'scamming' him for treats. Then a neuroscientist revealed the truth with proof

Does your dog really love you, or only see you as a walking, talking vending machine? In 2014, journalist Anderson Cooper also assumed his dog was a con artist until an MRI scan result changed his mind. Dr. Gregory Berns, an American neuroscientist, conducted brain scans on dogs while they were inside the fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) machine, awake and unsedated. The research suggests that if dogs sense their owner is nearby, a "reward center" in their brain gets activated, sparking a deeper emotional response. Dr. Berns shared his detailed findings on 60 Minutes on YouTube, which was recently shared on the show's Instagram on March 26.

After studying human brains for almost twenty years, Dr. Berns shifted to canines when curiosity about his own pet fueled a deeper scientific interest. "It started with a desire to know, really, what does my dog think of me? I love my dog, but do they reciprocate in any way? When they hear you come home… they start jumping around. Is it because they expect you to feed them?" Dr. Berns explained to Cooper.

To find answers, Dr. Berns began his research on dogs that were trained to stay still inside MRI machines. Once, after obtaining a top-to-bottom scan of the canine brain, he made them smell their owner's underarm sweat and that of a stranger. As soon as the dogs sniffed both the samples, the "smell center," an area right behind their nose, got activated, but something significant changed in their brain when they sniffed their owner's sweat. When the canines smelled their owners, the "caudate nucleus," often called the brain's reward center, was activated.

Through his study, Dr. Berns concluded that canines experience a strong positive feeling when they're with their owners, and it's beyond just the expectation of food. "My takeaway from this is that I am not being scammed by my dog... I worry about that all the time," Cooper told Dr. Berns. Brian Hare, a professor of evolutionary anthropology and author, explained that when a dog and its owner make eye contact, oxytocin, also called the "love hormone," is released in both of them. "When dogs are actually looking at you, they are essentially hugging you with their eyes," he added.

A survey of 1,500 American dog owners conducted by Rover via Pollfish found that most pet parents don't doubt their pets' love for them. In fact, if we go by numbers, 95% of respondents said they believe their dogs love them. It was also observed that dogs influence how their owners perceive other people. For instance, 71% of people in relationships said they feel more attracted to their partner when they see them care for their dog. Moreover, 86% of pet parents (in a relationship) said that owning a dog made them feel more like a family.

Meanwhile, reacting to the scientific study results, @thehoundofhudson joked, "My dog knows the line, 'Do you love me?' And he'll come up and kiss me, but mostly when I have a treat in hand, lol. If he's resting and I say that, trust me, he's not going to get up." @bronkobryan commented, "I didn't need to see any test results to know that it's definitely not about getting fed. They love their families unconditionally." Similarly, @rajeev_kgp shared, "My dog doesn't eat food when I have to leave him for the day. He definitely gets sad. I don't think we need anything to prove that our dogs love."

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