Dogs understand human language much better than you would have thought

This theory is based on a new study of researchers at the University of Loránd Eötvös in Budapest, which has been published in the Science magazine at the end of August.

The experiment took place on thirteen family dogs who live with their owners, mainly on border collies and Golden retrievers. The research workers trained the dogs to sit inside an fMRI scanner, which measures the activity of the brain.

The scientists recorded the voice of the trainer saying phrases in various kinds of intonation. They recorded a general phrase for praise with an approving tone, but also a number of neutral words with a neutral tone of voice including conjunctions, which don’t bear any specific meaning. They recorded also praises with a neutral tone and neutral phrases and words with an approving tone. Then, the scientists monitored the brain waves of the dogs, while they played them the recorded phrases.

To their surprise, they found out, that dogs process the words and the intonation used separately, in different parts of the brain. When they heard familiar words of praise, the active one was the left hemisphere of the brain – that one that is used by humans to process language. This activity occurred irrespectively of the tone that the trainer used.

The dogs reacted to the intonation of the phrase, however, in the right hemisphere – same as humans. Therefore, despite it seemed, that dogs process words irrespectively of the intonation, the tone that was used was not irrelevant.

The dog “centre of reward”, where positive attention is processed or, for example, food is processed as well, was stimulated, when the individuals heard words of praise with a positive intonation. In other words, dog will recognize praise irrespectively of the tone that it is being said in, but they register it as positive attention only in the case it is said using a positive tone.

The head researcher stated in his opinion, that praise can very well function as a reward, but it best works with positive intonation, or when the meaning of the words and the tone correlate. Not only do the dogs distinguish what we are saying and how we are saying it, but they can also connect both for correct interpretation of the meaning. Again, it is true, that this principle is very similar to the one, that is used by the human brain.

The results of the research necessarily don’t prove, that dogs understand the precise meaning of all the known words, but apart from other things, it implies, that they are capable of distinguishing between words that they have heard before and words that they have never heard.

Naturally, dog owner have long known, that they can use word commands to train  the dogs and to communicate with them. But the head of research explains, that even the reaction of dogs on these commands  are often difficult to separate from the tone of the voice and the body language.

Therefore, the main result of the study is not, that dogs can distinguish words, but that they distinguish words that are meaningful or meaningless for them, with the left brain hemisphere playing a major part.

And what about you, do you feel, like I do, that your furry friend often understands you only too well, and sometimes they don’t understand a thing (usually depending on what is more convenient for them at the moment :) )?