A dog’s brain activity is partially comparable to the thinking ability of humans, according to a new Hungarian study.
Many dog owners are impressed, even without science, by how much their pet understands speech.
Now, in a Hungarian study, observations have been made about the dog’s ability to associate objects with suggestive words in addition to commands and instructions. A dog’s brain function is therefore partially comparable to the thinking ability of humans.
Most of the time, dogs follow clear commands such as sit or retrieve.
A study conducted at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest analyzed the brain activity of 18 dogs. Their memory was activated when they heard the name of a certain object, even though the object was not visible.
The study has been published In Current Biology.
Investigator Marianna Boros says that the research seems to indicate that rather than exceptions, understanding referential words and concepts may be a species characteristic.
Object and concept were combined
In the study, the owners said out loud the objects the dog recognized. Sometimes the object was visible, sometimes not. Sometimes the object was described with the wrong word.
Based on the research findings, different activity was observed in the dogs’ brains depending on whether the connection between the words and the object was correct or not. Similar observations have been made about human brain activity.
– Dogs realize that words mean things. They know how to connect meaning to verbalization and not just context, explains Marianna Boros.
The research is to be expanded from dogs to other mammals.
Source: Reuters