Additional info on dog hearing: http://www.lsu.edu/deafness/HearingRange.html
A brain study showed that dogs have certain regions of voice that are similar to human brains.
Attila Andics, a researcher in the MTA-ELTE Comparitive Ethology Research Group in Budapest, Turkey, trained 11 dogs consisting of golden retrievers and border collies, and let them sleep in an MRI machine. By doing this, they were allowed to see patterns in the canines brains when they were exposed any of 200 different sounds and compare the responses to humans.
This particular study is the first to make such a direct neurological comparison between humans and a non-primate mammal. Andics reported that one region of the dogs brain responds to vocalizations of its own species, while another responds to emotional cues. Andics is also excited about the similarities between dog and humans brains. Both species have an area of the brain that is tuned to "emotional valence" of a voice, which simply put, both species respond more strongly to positive emotions rather than negative ones. Andics argues that mammals have this vocal-perception system in that come from a common ancestor, both others say this is just an example of convergent evolution-the independent evolution of certain characteristics in species of different lineages.
As someone who is a dog owner, I found this story particularly interesting. All dog owners feel some unknown connections to their dogs and get a feeling of their voice, and finding evidence of this is fascinating!
NOS Themes:
- Role of credibility- Andics is a credible person who has a high amount of respect with the group he's in.
- Role of motivation and curiosity- This project took place due to Andics's curiosity, not because of any problem arising
- Science is subjected to debate and is tentative- Many people still disagree what the results of this experiment mean.
This post caught my eye immediately because of my huge love for animals! I wanted to research more about it. As I was reading, I found an article that gave me more information on dogs' reactions to human voices. Dogs do not actually understand most of the words humans say, but rather hear their emotions in their voices. I found that very interesting! Researching this topic reminds me of how my dog cuddles with me when I'm sad because she can feel/hear my emotions. In addition to sounds, I found that dogs recognize their owners by scent and sight. A study done by Emroy University helped show the emotional connections between an owner and his/her pet. They uncovered that there is more brain activity going on in a dog when signals for food are shown, scents of their owner(s) are revealed, when their owner(s) are in sight, and more.
ReplyDeleteLink : http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/your-dog-really-does-love-you-study-indicates/
I read your article, I thought that it was very well-written! Being someone else who really enjoys animals, emotions is a very interesting thing that I feel could be researched much more. If you want to read more about this interesting topic, you could look at this article that I was able to find. It discusses how dogs and humans brains are hardwired similarly when it comes to emotions, and specifically, communication.
DeleteLink: http://news.discovery.com/animals/pets/dogs-and-humans-are-hardwired-to-listen-140220.htm
This is a very cool topic. I've always been curious as to how humans are able to communicate with dogs so well. It's an interesting idea that we are so neurologically similar. I wonder if this goes for other animals as well. I found another article about the same topic that dives into the study a little deeper and presents some similar ideas to the ones presented in yours.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/your-dog-can-tell-from-your-voice-if-youre-happy-or-sad-180949807/?no-ist