Dogs can understand what you're saying and how you say it

It might not seem like it when you're shouting "sit" or "fetch" to a blank canine face, but it turns out dogs understand both the words we speak and how we say them.

That's the conclusion of a new study from Hungary, in which researchers studied the MRI scans of a bunch of dogs and found that they're using the same parts of their brain as humans to process what they hear.

In a project conducted by Attila Andics, a research fellow at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest and published in the journal Science, researchers found that dogs process words with the left hemisphere and pitch with the right.

During the experiment, the 13 dogs sat inside an MRI scanner and listened to their trainer speaking different combinations of words and intonation in both praising and neutral ways.

The trainers said words like "super" or "however" in both a high-pitched cheerful voice and with a more neutral delivery.

Researchers discovered that the dogs process vocabulary separately to intonation, and actually responded better when praising words were used in combination with praising intonation.

Meaningless words spoken in an encouraging voice or meaningful words said in a neutral tone didn't have the same effect.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"Dog brains care about both what we say and how we say it," Attila Andics said. "Praise can work as a reward only if both word meaning and intonation match."

Andics believes that the findings show that the mental ability to process language evolved earlier than previously thought, and that it was the invention of words that sets humans apart from other species.

Other animals could also understand language, but its dogs' close contact with humans for thousands of years that make them ideal to study.

Six border collies, five golden retrievers, a German shepherd and a Chinese crested were used for the study. They had to lie awake, unrestrained and motionless for seven minutes in the scanner during the test - something many humans find tough to do. They listened to their trainer's voice through headphones.

Brian Hare, associate professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University, told the Associated Press it was a "shocker" that word meaning seems to be processed in the left hemisphere of the brain.

Emory University neuroscientist Gregory Berns, meanwhile, cautioned that the study involved a small number of dogs. Before concluding it's a smoking gun for word processing, "they should have looked for other evidence in the brain," he said in an email.

While the news might make you feel closer to your dog, don't expect to be recognized if you FaceTime them while you're away. Andics says that his research indicates dogs can't recognize their owners on screens.

“Realistic size matters,” he said. “If the size is not realistic, you become something small in a little box.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting.