Discoveries

April 17, 2024

Canine Canny

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Many dog owners swear their pooches understand them.

Now, a new groundbreaking study shows they actually might.

The research suggests that canines possess a more sophisticated understanding of human language than previously recognized, the Los Angeles Times reported.

To arrive at that conclusion, neuroscientist Marianna Boros and her team used electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to probe the minds of 18 pet dogs as they listened to familiar words uttered by their owners.

They placed electrodes on the dogs’ heads to measure brain activity as they listened to recordings of their owners using familiar words, followed by the appearance of corresponding or unrelated objects.

Through careful analysis of the dogs’ brain wave patterns, researchers observed a significant drop in neural activity when the spoken word matched with the subsequent appearance of a related object.

This response mirrored human brain reactions to unexpected words, indicating that dogs not only recognize specific verbal cues but also mentally anticipate corresponding objects.

The findings challenge long-held assumptions about the cognitive capabilities of animals, suggesting that canines possess a level of abstraction and comprehension previously attributed exclusively to humans.

Moreover, the experiment’s rigorous design ruled out the possibility of the pets simply associating words with objects based on simultaneous presence, reinforcing the notion that they possess a genuine understanding of the meaning of specific words.

While this research focused on a select group of dogs trained by their owners, its implications extend beyond individual cases, researchers said.

The authors believe that further exploration into the linguistic abilities of dogs and other animals can reveal more about the evolution of language and cognition across species, including humans.

This story originally appeared in the April 17, 2024 newsletter, The Cost of Allegiance.