It has long been known that children from the age of one can learn new words by passively listening to adults' conversations. Now researchers at ELTE University in Budapest have discovered that dogs, which are part of the group of "gifted word learners (GWL)", function in a similar way.
In the experiment, ten GWL dogs were taught the name of a toy either through direct interaction with their owner or by simply watching their owner talk about the toy with another person.
Seven out of ten dogs learned the name of the toy just as well when they eavesdropped on their owner's conversation with another person as when they were taught directly.
"Our findings show that the social cognitive processes required to learn words through eavesdropping are not uniquely human," says research leader Shany Dror.
The dogs were also tested by having their owners name toys that the dogs could not see at the time. Even though the dogs could not see the toys at the same time as the words were spoken, several of them managed to associate the correct word with the correct object - this suggests, according to the researchers, a flexible learning ability.
According to the researchers, who published their study in Science, this is an extremely rare talent that few dogs possess. Most dogs learn words linked to actions, such as “sit” and “down,” but GWL dogs can build a vocabulary of hundreds of toy names.
Mikael Widerberg/TT
Facts: GWL dogs
TT
Dogs that have the rare ability to learn the names of various objects very quickly are called "gifted word learners" (GWL).
The vast majority of GWL dogs live in single-dog households. Often the dogs were brought into the household when they were younger than ten weeks old.
GWL dogs are found in all breeds, all different types of households and in all countries.
Source: Science
