It’s hard to know what’s actually going on inside a dog’s skull when it follows a command or fetches a ball. Does the dog respond by understanding the tone of the voice, the syllables of the word, accompanying hand movements and body language, or simply the context of the situation?Behavioral studies have provided some clues, but a new study brings additional evidence that our favorite furry friends really are do Understand the meaning behind words.
According to the study, dogs show patterns of neural activity that suggest they can distinguish between words for different objects, and can even be surprised when presented with words or objects that don’t match. the study Published in the magazine on March 22nd current biology. A team of neuroscientists and animal behavior researchers used non-invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) testing to look inside the brains of 27 pet dogs during an experiment involving dog owners and several popular toys. We measured the electrical pulses of . They discovered electrical impulse patterns similar to known human signals. The discovery sheds light on the dog’s noggin and furthers our knowledge of the origins of complex language.
“We were interested in whether dogs understand language the same way humans do.”
“It’s great to be able to do research like this,” he says. Ellen Lauis a neuroscientist who studies linguistics at the University of Maryland, but was not involved in the new study. By applying EEG to dogs, she explains, she can more directly compare humans and non-humans, rather than the invasive techniques often used to study animal brains. She said: “If we want to understand what humans and animals have in common, we need more of this kind of data.”
Baby vocabulary test made for dogs
Among animals, family puppies are unique in how much they are exposed to human language. “There are a lot of interesting questions about language experiences with dogs, because dogs are the only animals that live in our homes and pay attention to us,” he says. Amrita Mallikarjuna neuroscientist who studies dog cognition at the University of Pennsylvania, was not involved in the new study.
Researchers set out to test whether dogs understand the relationship between words and their corresponding objects. “We were interested in whether dogs could understand language the same way humans do,” he says. Lila Majali, co-lead author and cognitive neuroscientist and psychologist at the University of Stavanger, Norway.Several noticeable dog Although vocabulary can be demonstrated through behavioral tests, not all dogs are equally patient, capable, or well-behaved. Scientists wanted to know whether dogs, even those that don’t display extraordinary abilities, have some sense of language.
The greater the surprise, the greater the signal.
People have an internal reference for the meaning of words, or the ability to “picture” objects in their mind’s eye from memory. However, it is unclear whether other animals share this ability to imagine things that are not there from associated sounds. To explore this question, Majali and colleagues adapted a cognitive test previously used in studies of infants. This assessment involves telling subjects a word or phrase and comparing their brainwave measurements when they are shown a corresponding object or an object that does not match the description.
In humans, even those too young to talk, an observable effect called the N400, shows up in brainwave measurements when people encounter language or other stimuli. This is a characteristic signal that peaks approximately 400 milliseconds after the stimulus is presented and becomes louder when there is a mismatch between the object or image and the word. The greater the surprise, the greater the signal. Many scientists interpret this effect as evidence of understanding and internal reference to word definitions, even for nonverbal subjects.
To make the test dog-friendly, Majali and his collaborators examined the dog’s comfort level, potential variations in voice, and other movements and communication between dog and owner that could affect the results. Careful adjustments were made while controlling the signal.
“I think this study is beautiful,” says Lau, noting the thorough and thoughtful design. “I think they really did everything they needed to do in studying animal cognition.”
These dogs, all healthy companion animals, were recruited via social media and selected based on their owners’ assessment that their pets understood at least three object words. After a period of familiarization with the laboratory, the owner and dog were separated by an electronic window that could quickly switch between transparent and opaque states. Scientists attached electrodes to strategic points on the dog’s head. Across multiple trials, pets were exposed to a recording of their owner’s voice calling their attention to one of five familiar objects (e.g., “Fido, look, ball”) while showing their owner’s face through a window. Regenerated. Then, after a moment of opaque blankness, the window shows the owner holding up his one of the objects. Either it matches the previously played phrase, or it doesn’t match. During that time, EEG recorded the electrical pulses occurring in their brains.
Of the 27 dogs that started the experiment, 18 were included in the final analysis. Nine people were excluded. The main reason for this is that you can’t sit still enough to get clean EEG data. But even when considering the challenges of mobile animal subjects, the scientists found a clear pattern in the study results.
When there is a mismatch between the auditory stimulus and the presented object, canine EEG measurements typically show a pronounced signal peak after 200 to 600 milliseconds, which even the average pet dog shows some This shows that students can distinguish between the meanings of words. Based on owner reports and further corroboration of the results, dogs showed the greatest brain response when the most familiar word was paired with an incongruent object.
When there is a mismatch between the auditory stimulus and the presented object, canine EEG measurements typically show a pronounced signal peak after 200 to 600 milliseconds, which even the average pet dog shows some This shows that students can distinguish between the meanings of words.
The timing of the pulse suggests it may be similar to the N400 signal in humans, but follow-up studies will be needed to test this hypothesis, he says. Marianna Boros, study co-lead author, is a cognitive neuroscientist and psychologist at ELTE University in Budapest, Hungary. “EEG is very tricky,” Malikarjun says, explaining that human and dog brains are very different, which could mean the brain waves recorded in the study are unique. Nevertheless, Boros is keen to continue investigating the potential link. “Our study is the first to examine this mismatch effect in non-human animals. We have to do more,” she says. “It’s very interesting to think that there might be an evolutionary continuum.”
Connecting the building blocks of a language
Colin Phillips, a professor of linguistics at the University of Oxford, said the experiment used objects that were familiar to the dogs and did not show that dogs could generalize words to mean entire categories of objects. He states that this is another important aspect of human language. and the University of Maryland. He also wasn’t entirely convinced that the time delay within the study proved that the dogs were referring to mental images or memories. “They have associated sounds with specific objects,” Phillips said. “It’s impressive…a carefully controlled study,” he adds, but ultimately not all that surprising. “We already know dogs can do this.”
Boros and Majali say language is more complex than simple noun recognition, and this study does not suggest that dogs are anywhere near as capable of learning language as humans. Rather, the researchers say, it suggests what abilities in mammals existed before humans’ highly complex language systems.
Mallikarjun agrees that studying pets can give us insight into ourselves. Through her research like this, she says, she will be able to better learn what is unique to human cognition and what is not, and understand language development.
And it’s also a good reminder that dogs and other animals are special in their own way. “Communication involves many different elements,” says Lau. “Just because humans have certain kinds of unique communication systems that are not completely shared with other animals doesn’t mean that other animals don’t also have very complex communication abilities.”
