Brain scans show that dogs do understand human speech

[S]cientists in Hungary…have published a groundbreaking study that found dogs understand both the meaning of words and the intonation used to speak them…[T]he new findings…[found that dogs] process language using the same regions of the brain as people….

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Using the brain activity images, the researchers saw that the dogs processed the familiar words regardless of intonation, and they did so using the left hemisphere, just like humans. Tone, or the emotion behind the word, on the other hand, was analyzed in the auditory regions of the right hemisphere — just as it is in people….

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The researchers said it’s unlikely that human selection of dogs during their domestication…could have led to this sort of brain function…[I]t’s more possible it would be a side effect of other dog traits selected by humans, such as attention. But [scientists]…think these neural mechanisms are probably far more ancient, and perhaps “more widespread than we thought before.”

That means we aren’t as special as we like to think….

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion and analysis. Read full, original post: Your dog really does know what you’re saying, and a brain scan shows how