Most pets clearly know specific terms like “treat” or “walk.” But they may comprehend more than you realize. Researchers in Hungary have discovered dogs can distinguish between their native tongue and foreign languages. They can also differentiate between actual words and nonsense sounds.
MRI Scans Show How the Brain Reacts to Languages
The study, published in NeuroImage, involved 18 dogs, including six Border Collies, five Golden Retrievers, two Australian Shepherds, one Cocker Spaniel, and four mixed breeds. Researchers trained the pups to lie still. Then, they used MRIs to scan the pups’ brains while narrators read The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The narrators read the story in a natural, engaging tone, once in Spanish, then in Hungarian. The dogs also listened to computer-scrambled audio that did not resemble authentic human speech. Two dogs were familiar with Spanish, while the others were familiar with Hungarian. The dogs’ pet parents were in the room throughout the session to ensure they felt safe and comfortable.
Researchers observed different parts of the participants’ brains lit up when listening to a familiar language versus a foreign tongue or scrambled speech.
They also noted older dogs were better able to distinguish between languages than their younger counterparts.
Why Recognizing Human Speech Is Important for Dogs
“Dogs are really good in the human environment,” study author Laura Cuaya, a postdoctoral researcher at the Neuroethology of Communication Lab at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, told NBC News. “We found that they know more than I expected about human language. Certainly, this ability to be constant social learners gives them an advantage as a species. It gives them a better understanding of their environment.”
According to the university’s Department of Ethology newsletter, Cuaya began pondering whether dogs could distinguish between languages when she and her dog, Kun-kun, moved from Mexico to Hungary. She wondered if Kun-kun knew that people around them spoke a different language than Spanish.
Cuaya and her team say this is the first study of its kind to illustrate how a non-human brain can distinguish between different languages.
