Dogs really can understand language…. just like their owners say, according to new research.
They even process the spoken word in a similar way to humans – and in the same area of the brain, say scientists.
It sheds light on why man’s best friend gets excited when we say ‘walk’ – or responds to an affectionate tone of voice.
Neuroscientist Professor Gregory Berns, of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, said: “Dogs may have varying capacity and motivation for learning and understanding human words.”
“But they appear to have a neural representation for the meaning of words they have been taught, beyond just a low-level Pavlovian response.”
First author Ashley Prichard, a PhD candidate in Prof Bern’s psychology lab, said: “Many dog owners think their dogs know what some words mean, but there really isn’t much scientific evidence to support that.
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