Hungarian researchers have conducted a scientific study that proves dogs respond to pure communication intentions of humans. Jozsef Topal from the Hungarian Academy of Sciences confirms what many dog owners have suspected for years. Dogs not only respond to words and signals, but also to pure communication intentions of humans. The communication skills of dogs and toddlers between six months and two years of age are similar. Topal and his team conducted an experiment with 16 dogs, which examined the communication between dogs and humans through eye contact. They played videos of a woman who had two containers on either side of her (see image). The woman randomly looked at the left or right container. Before looking at the container, she either made direct eye contact with the dog or avoided eye contact with the test dog. During this video presentation, the eye movements of the dogs were recorded using an eye tracker. The later analysis of the dog’s gaze with prior eye contact of the woman showed that the dogs were already looking at the container that the woman would look at a few moments later. This proves that dogs respond to the impending communication intentions of humans.
Topal reports in the internet journal Current Biology: “More and more evidence and studies support the view that dogs and humans share some social skills. Further studies will determine whether the same processes occur in the dog’s brain as in humans.” Thus, the frequent statement of dog owners “dogs read our wishes from our eyes” seems to be correct and finally scientifically proven.
This study confirms what many dog owners have suspected for years. Dogs not only respond to words and signals, but also to pure communication intentions of humans. The communication skills of dogs and toddlers between six months and two years of age are similar. The experiment conducted by Topal and his team with 16 dogs examined the communication between dogs and humans through eye contact. The results showed that dogs respond to the impending communication intentions of humans. This study provides further evidence that dogs and humans share some social skills. Further studies will determine whether the same processes occur in the dog’s brain as in humans.
