Published April 29
Taylor Katzel
Associate Producer
When you say ‘ball,’ dogs picture it in their heads, study says
If you’ve ever owned a dog, you know that even just saying the word “ball” may have them sprinting toward their favourite one, hoping for a game of fetch.
But when you ask your dog to “fetch the ball,” do they really know what you mean by “ball?”
Or is it just that they’re seeing something familiar in your body language? The pitch of your voice? The expression on your face?
Well, thanks to a new study from scientists in Hungary, it turns out they may actually understand what you mean.
The new study was published last month in the science journal Current Biology.
It claims that dogs create a mental image of objects that we say, suggesting a deeper grasp of language similar to humans.
A new study out of Hungary suggests that dogs create a picture of certain objects in their heads based on the words we say. (Image credit: Remko De Waal/Getty Images )
How the study worked
Scientists recruited 18 dogs for the study and used a non-invasive technique to measure electrical activity in their brains.
Dog owners in the study would play an audio clip of them saying a familiar object like “ball” or “toy.”
Then, researchers would show the dog a picture of that object or a picture of something totally different and measure the dog’s brain activity.
Researchers discovered that the dogs had different patterns of brain activity depending on whether the image matched the word or didn’t.
They said this suggests that the dog was picturing the object in their head after hearing the word.
If they weren’t, scientists think they would have had the same brain activity regardless of what image was shown to them.
In other words, if the word ball didn’t carry any meaning for them, they wouldn’t have been surprised when they saw the picture of a bird, for example.
Scientists say their study is further proof that an ability called referential understanding isn’t unique to humans. (Image credit: Tim Sloan/Getty Images)
What does this all mean?
Scientists who conducted the study said the findings suggest dogs have something called referential understanding — the ability to associate words with specific objects.
They said the findings are further proof that the ability isn’t just unique to humans.
While some have praised the new findings, others have doubts.
In a post on Facebook, Clive Wynne, a behavioural scientist and professor of psychology at Arizona State University, said he believes all the study shows is that dogs respond to “human speech sounds” rather than actually grasping the meaning of words.
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