Hungarian scientists from the University of Budapest have proven that dogs understand human language to some extent. For example, they may associate objects with their names when they hear certain words in speech. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Current Biology (CurBio).
“Dogs don’t just respond to certain words with learned behaviors. “And without actually understanding the meaning of these words, they not only associate the word with an object based on temporal proximity, but also activate the memory of the object when they hear its name,” explained lead author Marianne Boros.
The scientists decided to better examine dogs’ implicit understanding of object words by measuring brain activity using a noninvasive electroencephalogram (EEG).
In the study, 18 dog owners said words related to toys that their dogs knew and then showed them the objects. Sometimes they offered a suitable toy, sometimes they offered an item that did not match the description.
Brain recording results showed different patterns in the brain when dogs were shown matching and non-matching objects.
The researchers also found a big difference in the word patterns that dogs knew better, confirming their understanding of object words.
The discovery that dogs as a whole may have the same ability to understand words as humans could change scientists’ views on the uniqueness of how humans use and perceive language, experts said.
Previous scientists I learnedA dog can be trained to deliver medicine or a phone call to a person in the event of a chronic disease crisis.