New Study Reveals Dogs Respond to Words from Buttons and Humans Alike, Challenging Skeptics and Exploring Canine Cognition in Interspecies Communication
Dogs communication button often appears in social media videos often feature viral content of “button dogs” tapping soundboards with prerecorded words like “walk,” “park,” or “mom.” But are these pets truly communicating or just well-trained?
While new research doesn’t fully answer this question, it explores the world of buttons and how dogs react to the button soundboard and their human companions.
The Groundbreaking Study dogs communication button
The study, published in PLOS ONE and conducted by University of California at San Diego scientists, is the first in a series expected to determine whether pet dogs can learn to express their desires by tapping dog communication buttons.
Many dog owners firmly believe their pets can engage in this form of canine communication and offer substantial anecdotal evidence to support their claims. However, the concept of button dogs using a dog soundboard or dog soundboard for interspecies communication has faced skepticism from dog cognition experts.
It’s worth noting that in this new PLOS ONE study, only humans pressed the buttons, not the dogs.
Experimental Design and Methodology
Experiment 1: In-Person Trials
The initial experiment was conducted in person, with researchers from the UC San Diego Comparative Cognition Lab visiting 30 dogs’ homes across the country to test their behavioral responses to sound board buttons. The buttons played the owners’ voices. An unfamiliar person, the experimenter, pressed the buttons while the owner was in another room and observed the dog for 60 seconds.
Experiment 2: Citizen Science Approach
The second experiment involved citizen science, with 29 dog owners conducting experimental trials at home under remote guidance. The owner would either press the same dog word buttons or say the spoken words aloud without using a pet soundboard, then watch the dog’s reaction for 60 seconds.
Key Findings
Dogs were more likely to show contextually appropriate “play-related” or “outside-related” behaviors after hearing relevant play-related words, whether spoken by a human or played from the dog toy soundboard. “This shows that dogs are, at the very least, able to learn a connection between these words or buttons and their real-world outcomes through associative learning,” the researchers wrote in the study.
Dogs didn’t display “food-related” behaviors in response to food-related words, suggesting they either weren’t hungry or didn’t expect food outside their usual mealtimes, according to the study.
Implications of the Research
The research indicates that dogs can understand specific words and respond appropriately, regardless of whether they hear them from people or from a prerecorded human soundboard activated by someone’s button presses.
The researchers said the findings show that dogs comprehend the words and aren’t simply reacting to human body language cues.
“We know dogs understand quite a few words,” said Federico Rossano, associate professor in the cognitive science department at the University of California at San Diego. “However, we needed to conduct this study to convince some skeptics who thought dogs wouldn’t pay attention to the words at all.”
Debunking the “Clever Hans Effect”
The research confirms that the dogs’ reactions weren’t due to the “Clever Hans effect,” a term stemming from a famous early 1900s Berlin horse. Hans could seemingly answer questions by tapping his hoof, but was actually responding to subtle cues from his handler.
“The dogs are clearly listening to the words and reacting appropriately when they hear them,” Rossano explained. He mentioned that the team has two more researcher-led studies under review exploring how dogs use the buttons for interspecies communication.
Expert Opinions on dogs communication button
Several dog behavior experts weren’t surprised by the findings.
Alexandra Horowitz, who leads the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College, said, “It’s expected that dogs react similarly to ‘play’ or ‘out’ whether it’s on a button or spoken by their owner, especially since the button uses the owner’s voice. Dogs quickly learn that ‘Where’s your ball?’ means the same thing whether I ask, a visitor asks, or my voice on speakerphone asks.”
Amritha Mallikarjun, Penn Vet Working Dog Center
Amritha Mallikarjun, a postdoc at the Penn Vet Working Dog Center, noted that the study backs up previous research showing dogs pay attention to human speech and can recognize familiar words without context clues or even when spoken by unfamiliar voices.
“While dogs can’t learn language like humans and their communication is more limited, it’s still amazing how humans and dogs have evolved to engage in interspecies communication,” Mallikarjun said.
She emphasized that humans attach complex meanings to words, which doesn’t necessarily translate to dogs. “If we try to teach dogs abstract concepts with buttons, they might not grasp the full linguistic meaning or demonstrate semantic understanding, but instead link a specific behavior or event sequence to the word,” she explained.
Clive D.L. Wynne, Arizona State University
Clive D.L. Wynne, psychology professor and director of Arizona State University’s Canine Science Collaboratory, pointed out that dog cognition differs from human language understanding and word comprehension.
“The researchers concluded that dogs ‘understood’ words related to going outside and playing, but not food-related words,” he said. “This ‘understanding’ is more like Pavlovian conditioning, similar to a dog getting excited when you say ‘walkies.’ It’s different from how humans understand language.”
Study Details and Funding
Researchers from the University of California at Davis, the University of St. Andrews, the University of València, and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna participated in the study.
The research was partly funded by a $15,000 UC-San Diego Academic Senate grant aimed at helping faculty conduct pilot studies that could lead to larger grants. The team clarified they received no funding from commercial button board manufacturers like the makers of AIC devices. These devices, which pet owners can purchase, range from affordable starter kits to more complex soundboards costing hundreds of dollars.
Source:
Marlene Cimons (August 28, 2024). ‘Button dogs’ understand words — and not just from their humans. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/08/28/button-dogs-canine-cognition/. Accessed October 8, 2024
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