Dogs show ability to link words with objects, study reveals
A recent small-scale study delving into canine brain waves has uncovered that dogs possess an ability similar to humans in understanding words that refer to objects. This insight sheds light on the cognitive processes of our four-legged companions. For dog owners accustomed to instructing their pets with commands like "sit" or "fetch," it's no surprise that dogs can comprehend words that trigger specific actions.
Cognitive prowess
The study, analyzing brain activity in 18 dogs, unveils their cognitive prowess upon hearing their names. Conducted at Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, and published in Current Biology, the research highlights dogs' complex mental processes in language comprehension and object association. Marianna Boros, one of the study's co-authors, mentioned the ongoing debate regarding whether non-human animals can understand words in a referential manner.
Across an entire species
While previous reports documented behavioral patterns, these were regarded as exceptional. During the study, dog owners spoke words corresponding to objects their pets recognized. Dogs were then presented with objects that either matched or didn't match the uttered word, probing their ability to associate words with specific objects. The study asserts that this capacity extends across an entire species for the first time.
Mental representations
The study uncovered unique brain patterns in dogs when words corresponded with objects, echoing similar observations in humans. Marianna Boros, conveyed that grasping the word's meaning suggests the dog holds a mental representation of the object. She noted that upon hearing the word, the dog's mental representation is activated. They plan to investigate whether this comprehension of referential language extends to other mammalian species.
Dogs possess a level of abstraction
Following this, the contrast between the mental representation and the actual object triggers a well-documented ERP (event-related potential) EEG effect. This phenomenon, extensively researched in humans since the late 1970s, indicates cognitive processing. The study also revealed that dogs possess the ability to comprehend words representing tangible entities, demonstrating that they have a level of abstraction to understand that word refers to a thing.