People and dogs can "talk"! What the latest research by scientists has shown and why it is very important

A recent study by scientists on dog behavior has shown that people can "talk" to their pets using soundbars. The scientists called it a "necessary first step" to enable humans and dogs to use push-button devices to communicate in the future.

But do pets really communicate, or are they just well-trained? Although the new study does not provide a complete answer to this question, it shows that dogs trained to use such devices respond to pre-recorded words as well as spoken words, The Guardian reports.

"What we see is that dogs actually pay attention to words and produce appropriate behaviors regardless of environmental cues or who is creating the word. While this study is certainly not overwhelming, it is a necessary first step," says Professor Federico Rossano of the University of California, San Diego, who led the research.

"We know that dogs understand quite a few words. However, we needed to do some research to convince some skeptics who thought that dogs would not pay attention to words at all," he added.

In recent years, the popularity of push-button sound panels has skyrocketed, with social media flooded with videos of dogs using this equipment. However, there is a debate over whether these dogs are actually responding to the audio from the device or simply reacting to cues based on their owners' behavior or body language.

The researchers say that they conducted two experiments involving 59 dogs, all of which were trained to use the deck.

In the first experiment, the researcher used colored stickers to cover buttons on the dog's soundboard that were pre-recorded for the words outside/walk, play/toy, and food/eat/dine/hungry. Another researcher, not knowing which button was which and not hearing the words they produced, pressed one of these buttons and the dog's behavior was recorded.

The dog owners then conducted a similar experiment, but in this case, they varied between pressing one of the buttons or saying the word themselves.

The results show that dogs were about seven times more likely to demonstrate play-related behaviors after pressing the "play"/"toy" button than the average for the three buttons, with similar levels of relevant behavior for the "outside"/"walk" buttons. However, they did not show a higher chance of demonstrating food-related behaviors when the corresponding button was pressed.

Importantly, the findings were valid regardless of whether the researcher or the owner pressed the buttons, and whether the owner pressed the button or said the same word.

Now the researchers are studying whether dogs can press the right button in specific situations, and, according to them, the work can not only help to explore the depth of understanding of words by dogs but also shed light on whether such devices can be used to communicate with each other.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!