Dogs process human and canine sounds differently
Dogs process the vocalisations of humans and canines differently, according to new research by the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest.
The research, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, used a non-invasive EEG – which is used to diagnose epilepsy in humans – to study how dogs process different auditory signals.
Anna Bálint, fellow of the MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, said: “We played various human and dog vocalisations to lying, alert dogs while recording their brain activity using non-invasive EEG.”
The 17 family dogs participating in the study were motivated only by positive reinforcement, while the researchers applied electrodes to specific points on their head and presented them with non-verbal human and dog vocalisations of positive or neutral valence. Human vocalisations ranged from laughter to yawning and coughing, while dog vocalisations ranged from playful barks to panting and sniffing.
Huba Eleőd, doctoral candidate at the Department of Ethology at ELTE, added: “The analysis of the recorded EEG signals showed that the dog brain processes the vocalisations of the two species differently. This is the first time this has been detected in this form in dogs.
“In addition, this differentiation effect occurs very soon, at 250 milliseconds, so the neural processing of human and dog sounds diverges already a quarter of a second after the onset of the sound.”
Márta Gácsi, principal investigator of the MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, said: “Another important finding is the difference between the brain responses to positive and neutral vocalisations depending on the species. So we’ve been able to experimentally show that the dogs’ brain also responds to the emotional content of the sounds they hear.”
