Dogs demonstrate advanced communication through soundboards

The study involved 152 dogs taught by their owners to use special soundboards, reports IFL Science. When buttons are pressed, the board plays pre-recorded words or phrases. The study aimed to determine whether dogs consciously choose buttons or if their choices are random. During the 21-month experiment, nearly 195,000 interactions with the boards were recorded.

Interestingly, the analysis of results showed that dogs use the buttons purposefully, combining expressions into logical sequences. The most commonly chosen single words by dogs were "food," "treat," and "outside." However, some two-word combinations appeared more frequently than would be expected by chance. Examples of such pairs include:

    
• "food" and "water,"
• "outside" and "toilet,"
• "dog's name" and "want."

This last combination was particularly interesting because both components were rarely chosen separately. Researchers considered this evidence of dogs' ability to assign specific meanings to different buttons. According to one of the study's authors, Dr Federico Rossano, sound boards could significantly improve communication between dogs and their owners. They allow dogs to express their needs more precisely, for example, by combining words like "outside" and "park."

Researchers also noted that dogs do not mimic their owners' choices, indicating their independence in using the boards. For example, people used the "I love you" button more frequently, whereas dogs chose it less often, focusing on more practical needs.

As highlighted by IFL Science, scientists plan further experiments to check whether dogs can use the boards to express more abstract concepts, such as memories, objects not present at the moment, or future events. According to Dr Federico Rossano, it would change our perception of animal intelligence and communication if dogs can convey this information.