Dogs understand what you say, study suggests

Study found that dogs process speech in a manner similar to humans

A new study has found that dogs really do understand part of what is said, reports The New York Times

According to researchers in Hungary who scanned the brains of dogs as they were listening to their trainer speaking, dog brains process speech in a manner similar to humans. The researchers spoke to the dogs using a variety of words and intonations—some positive words with positive intonation, some random words with positive intonation, and some positive words with no modulation at all.



They found that dogs processed words with the left hemisphere and used the right hemisphere to process pitch — just like humans. According to the study’s head, Attila Andics, "It shows that for dogs, a nice praise can very well work as a reward, but it works best if both words and intonation match"



"So dogs not only tell apart what we say and how we say it, but they can also combine the two, for a correct interpretation of what those words really meant." Perhaps that's why you're not able to fool them when visiting the vet.

This article originally appeared on the The New York Times, a partner of The Express Tribune.