Researchers have discovered that dogs can understand certain words by monitoring their brain activity. These words go beyond expectations like ‘sit’ and ‘fetch’ and can even include certain nouns.
In a recent study, dogs and their owners were asked to bring in five objects that the canines would be familiar with, such as frisbees and leads. The owners were then instructed to say words for these objects while either showing the correct item or something different. For example, they might show a slipper but say “ball.” This process was repeated multiple times. The dogs’ brain activity was monitored using EEG (non-invasive electroencephalography) during this exercise to observe the different patterns when the objects matched the name or when they were incorrect. The findings revealed that the brain activity in dogs matched that of humans, indicating that dogs can form an understanding of a word well enough to know if it matches the object shown.
A researcher at the University of Lincoln stated, “It’s particularly interesting because I think it’s unlikely this started during domestication, so it may be widespread throughout mammals. That’s highly exciting in itself as it sheds new light on language evolution.”
Read the full story here
