Summary: A new study reveals that humans naturally slow their speech when talking to dogs, which helps dogs better understand commands. Researchers analyzed speech rates and brain responses in 30 dogs and 27 humans across five languages, finding that humans speak at around three syllables per second to their pets, compared to four syllables when talking to other humans.
The study also showed that dogs’ brains process speech using delta rhythms, which are slower than the theta rhythms humans use. These findings suggest that adapting speech tempo when speaking to dogs helps improve communication between humans and their pets.
Key Facts:
- Humans slow their speech from four to three syllables per second when talking to dogs.
- Dogs’ brains process speech at slower delta rhythms, unlike humans’ faster theta rhythms.
- Both speech content and prosody are important for dogs to understand human speech.
Source: PLOS
The voice people use to address their dogs isn’t just because of their big puppy eyes. Humans slow their own speech when talking to their dogs, and this slower tempo matches their pets’ receptive abilities, allowing the dogs to better understand their commands, according to a study published October 1st in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Eloïse Déaux of the University of Geneva in Switzerland and colleagues.
Dogs respond to human speech, even though they themselves cannot produce human sounds.
To better understand how people and pups communicate, the scientists analyzed the vocal sounds of 30 dogs. They also analyzed the sounds of 27 humans across five languages speaking to other people, and 22 humans across those languages speaking to dogs.
The scientists also used electroencephalography (EEG) to examine the brain responses to speech in humans and dogs.
Humans are much faster ‘talkers’ than dogs, the study showed, with a speech rate of about four syllables per second, while dogs bark, growl, woof, and whine at a rate of about two vocalizations per second.
When talking to dogs, the humans slowed their speech to around three syllables per second. EEG signals of humans and canines showed that dogs’ neural responses to speech are focused on delta rhythms, while human responses to speech are focused on faster theta rhythms.
The authors suggest that humans and dogs have different vocal processing systems, and that slowing down our speech when speaking to pets may have ultimately helped us better connect with them.
The authors add, “What’s further interesting, is that while dogs use slow rhythm to process speech and contrary to popular beliefs, they need both content and prosody to successfully comprehend it.”
About this animal psychology and neuroscience research news
Author: Claire Turner
Source: PLOS
Contact: Claire Turner – PLOS
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Dog–human vocal interactions match dogs’ sensory-motor tuning” by Eloïse C. Déaux et al. PLOS Biology
Abstract
Dog–human vocal interactions match dogs’ sensory-motor tuning
Within species, vocal and auditory systems presumably coevolved to converge on a critical temporal acoustic structure that can be best produced and perceived.
While dogs cannot produce articulated sounds, they respond to speech, raising the question as to whether this heterospecific receptive ability could be shaped by exposure to speech or remains bounded by their own sensorimotor capacity.
Using acoustic analyses of dog vocalisations, we show that their main production rhythm is slower than the dominant (syllabic) speech rate, and that human–dog-directed speech falls halfway in between.
Comparative exploration of neural (electroencephalography) and behavioural responses to speech reveals that comprehension in dogs relies on a slower speech rhythm tracking (delta) than humans’ (theta), even though dogs are equally sensitive to speech content and prosody.
Thus, the dog audio-motor tuning differs from humans’, and we hypothesise that humans may adjust their speech rate to this shared temporal channel as means to improve communication efficacy.
