Yes, Your Dog Does Understand You!
Most dog owners are convinced that their four-legged friends know exactly what they mean when they use certain words like sit, stay, or treat. However, researchers have always wondered whether canines really understand human speech or if they rely on other clues to deduce the meaning. For example, does the word “fetch” conjure up an image of a stick or ball in the dog’s mind, or does the pooch retrieve the object based on cues such as the owner’s tone or gesture? A new study by scientists at Atlanta’s Emory University seems to indicate that “man’s best friend” is not faking it – he/she does indeed know what the owner is saying.
“Many dog owners think that their dogs know what some words mean, but there really isn’t much scientific evidence to support that. We wanted to get data from the dogs themselves — not just owner reports,” said Ashley Prichard, a Ph.D. at Emory’s Department of Psychology and the study’s first author.
The researchers began by asking the owners of twelve dogs of various breeds to train their pets to identify two toys with different textures - such as a stuffed animal and a ball - by name. Once the dogs had mastered the task, they took turns inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanner (fMRI). The owners then tested their pooch’s language prowess by first calling out the names of the toys they had been trained to recognize and then saying meaningless words such as “bobbu” and “bodmick” while holding up random objects the dogs hadn’t seen before.
The fMRI scans revealed that the regions of the dogs’ brains responsible for auditory processing showed different brain patterns when they heard words they were familiar with, compared with the ones they had never encountered before. While not enough to prove that the dogs were picturing their toys when they heard the word, it did indicate some sort of recognition. The researchers believe this is an important step forward in understanding how dogs process language.
Even more intriguing was that the dog’s brains showed a higher level of neural activity at the sound of unknown words. This is the exact opposite of what happens in human brains, which get more active at the sound of familiar words. The researchers hypothesize the dogs may be perking up at the sound of new words to try to understand them in the hopes of delighting their masters. "Dogs ultimately want to please their owners, and perhaps also receive praise or food," says Emory neuroscientist Gregory Burns, senior author of the study.
However, though your pet may understand human speech, the scientists recommend using visual and scent cues for training. “When people want to teach their dog a trick, they often use a verbal command because that’s what we humans prefer,” Prichard says. “From the dog’s perspective, however, a visual command might be more effective, helping the dog learn the trick faster.”
Resources: cbsnews.com, gizmondo.com, fmri.org, earthsky.org
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2343 Comments
comikosThursday, June 10, 2021 at 12:27 pmThis was the most interesting thing that came up when I searched the word 'dog'.
danny-boySaturday, May 22, 2021 at 6:57 amMy dog, Murphy, LOVES his treats. Whenever I bring one out, he automatically sits.😅 My dog knows how to sit, stay, and, lie down on command.
doogylover_201Wednesday, May 19, 2021 at 9:34 amI have a 2 dogs one name hades other dog name blue blue is mean hades is nice lol.
wolfy221Tuesday, May 11, 2021 at 5:59 pmnone of my dogs listen to me at all, But they do come to me when they smell food.
jaroldTuesday, May 11, 2021 at 10:20 ami have dog name loo- danny-boyThursday, April 8, 2021 at 11:35 amAnd here i thought my dog was not smart but he is either confused or is ignoring me
flyers101Monday, April 19, 2021 at 5:07 pmSame but my dog feels like he's ignoring me soo
llamagirl12345Thursday, April 15, 2021 at 1:51 pmyou thought you dog was not smart!?!?!?
jazmine2008Thursday, April 8, 2021 at 11:20 amaw thats so cute i love dogs i wish i had a dog. my grandma had one to.
horse123456Wednesday, April 7, 2021 at 12:46 pmaww cool- llamagirl12345Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at 2:00 pmI have 5 dogs and 1 can sit. when we put ower hand to his nose and say sit he sits.
- lxayla17Monday, April 5, 2021 at 8:51 amwow, dogs are really smart i have several dogs bingo,riley,and sammy i have always wonderd if they could some how understand what i tell them.