The scientific world has once again surprised us with its discoveries about the extraordinary intelligence of animals. A recent study of 27 pet dogs and their owners has shown that these four-legged friends can understand more than we can imagine.
Recently, scientists conducted a study and found that pets experience surprise. This indicates that animals can form mental concepts, writes Science New.
Ellen Lau, a neuroscientist at the University of Maryland, explains: “Anyone who has ever spent much time with a dog probably won’t be surprised to learn that they understand that your language refers to at least a few common objects.”.
But some people might assume that this “understanding” is a simple, almost reflexive reaction to the sound of the word. But Lau adds, “It’s always nice when evidence like this comes along that refutes that assumption.”
Researchers led by Marianna Boros from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest focused on average dogs. The experiment involved 27 pet dogs and their owners.
Boros and her colleagues asked owners to bring five familiar toys to the lab. There, the team attached electrodes to the dogs' heads and asked them to do just two things: lie on a comfortable mat and stay awake.
From time to time, the dogs heard a recording of their owner's voice saying, "Charlie, look, a ball!" The person the dogs were talking to was on the other side of a wall with a window. This electronic window could instantly change from opaque to translucent, allowing the dog to see through it. Immediately after the audio, the owner would appear in the window holding a toy. Sometimes it was a ball, but sometimes it was another toy, such as a rope.
Researchers monitored the dogs' brain activity using electrodes. They found that when the dogs saw an unexpected toy, such as a rope instead of a ball, their brains showed a significant startle signal. This suggests that the dogs had formed a mental expectation based on the words they had heard.
The surprise signal, known as the N400 effect, is familiar to humans but has not been observed in dogs before. Boros notes that while it wasn't entirely unexpected, it provides new insight into how animals perceive language. Previous research has suggested that dogs understand words, but this offers a deeper understanding of their cognitive abilities.
“You could say they know the words at a passive level,” the researcher says. “They understand more than they show.”.
