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Mar 30, 2024<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In a new study published in Current Biology<\/em>, researchers at E\u00f6tv\u00f6s Lor\u00e1nd University in Budapest attached harmless electrodes to the heads of 18 pet dogs to track their brain activity. Their goal? To find out whether dogs simply react to familiar sounds or actually understand that certain words refer to specific objects. The results were striking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor decades, there\u2019s been debate about whether animals can grasp such abstract concepts,\u201d said study leader Marianna Boros, a neuroscientist and ethologist. \u201cOur findings suggest they can and that understanding language isn\u2019t entirely unique to humans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n We\u2019ve long known that some dogs can learn the names of dozens, even hundreds, of items \u2013 like Chaser, the South Carolina border collie who could remember over 1,000 toys. But what about the average pup? Boros suspected more dogs might understand words than they let on, they just haven\u2019t had a chance to show it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, her team borrowed a technique used to study human language processing: electroencephalography, or EEG. This method measures brain waves and detects how the brain responds to expected versus unexpected words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The experiment worked like this: Dogs lay calmly on mats while listening to recordings of their owners saying simple sentences like, \u201cLuna, here\u2019s the ball.\u201d Then, after a short pause, the owner appeared behind a window holding either the named object or something completely different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Throughout, EEG sensors tracked the dogs’ brain activity. And in 14 of the 18 dogs, the results were clear: Their brains reacted differently when the object matched the word they heard compared to when it didn\u2019t. The response was similar to how human brains react to surprising word pairings \u2013 like being told to wash your hands with \u201csoap and coffee.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n This suggests dogs were expecting a specific object based on what they heard. When something else appeared, their brains had to do extra work to make sense of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What makes this finding especially compelling is the delay between hearing the word and seeing the object. \u201cIf the word and object appeared at the same time, dogs might just associate them by coincidence,\u201d explained Lilla Magyari, a cognitive neuroscientist who worked on the study. \u201cBut because of the gap, the dog had to mentally recall the word and anticipate the object, showing real understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBall\u201d was the most common word among the dogs, but others recognized words like \u201cleash,\u201d \u201cphone,\u201d \u201cwallet,\u201d and multiple toy names. One star participant even knew four different toy names.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not every dog may have this ability, though. Owners in the study vouched that their dogs knew at least five object names \u2013 and one claimed a vocabulary of 230 nouns. Still, outside researchers like Marie Nitzschner, who spent years studying canine cognition at the Max Planck Institute, say the results are persuasive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt looks conclusive to me,\u201d she said. \u201cEven if not every dog can do this, it\u2019s a real phenomenon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nitzschner also stressed that dogs who don\u2019t show this ability aren\u2019t missing out \u2013 communication between humans and dogs goes far beyond words. But if your pup does seem to recognize object names, she added, it might be fun to nurture that skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For researchers, the bigger picture goes beyond dog smarts. Studies like this help piece together how language evolved in humans. \u201cWhy did humans develop such complex language when other animals didn\u2019t?\u201d Magyari asked. \u201cBy studying dogs \u2013 animals who live immersed in human speech \u2013 we can start to answer that question.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it turns out, man\u2019s best friend may be even better at listening than we thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n