Dogs Can Understand Human Speech A Lot Better Than We Thought

You’ve probably heard the common wisdom that it doesn’t really matter what you say to your dog, as long as you say it in a nice way. Maybe you found this distressing, since you like to believe your pup knows exactly what you mean when you tell him “I love you” 12 to 14 times per day. But it turns out dogs may understand more than humans have traditionally given them credit for, according to a new study by researchers at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, published in the journal Science this week. Researchers recruited 13 family dogs living with their human owners, and trained the dogs to sit in an fMRI scanner — a device that measures brain activity — while awake. Lead researcher Attila Andics and his colleagues note that the dogs — a group mostly made up of border collies and golden retrievers — were never restrained inside the scanner and were free to leave if they chose. The scientists recorded a trainer’s voice saying certain phrases with varying types of intonation. In one recording, she said Hungarian expressions “used by all test dog owners for praising” with the same type of vocal intonation a person would typically use to praise a dog. She also spoke a variety of “neutral” words — like conjunctions that are unlikely to carry any particular meaning — and said them in a neutral tone of voice. However, the trainer also switched up these combinations &...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news