The cute gesture that a dog bends its neck may be related to 'high attention and concentration'



The cute gesture that the dog bends his neck makes it look as if the dog is thinking about something. A Hungarian research team conducted an experiment to 'tell a dog the name of a toy and bring it with him' and showed that the dog's neck-squeezing gesture may be related to attention and concentration. I did.

An exploratory analysis of head-tilting in dogs | SpringerLink

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10071-021-01571-8

Why do dogs tilt their heads? New study offers clues | Science | AAAS
https://www.science.org/content/article/why-do-dogs-tilt-their-heads-new-study-offers-clues

A research team at the University of Etovesh Lorand in Hungary, who published a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Animal Cognition , wasn't looking at 'the gesture of squeezing a dog's neck' from the beginning, but originally 'the talent to remember the name of things'. I was doing research on 'a dog'. According to the research team, most dogs couldn't even remember the names of the two toys, but some Border Collies were able to remember the names of more than ten toys.

Over the course of several months, the research team conducted an experiment to retrieve human-named toys from the next room to investigate the abilities of 33 'ordinary dogs' and seven 'name-remembering dogs.' I did it. The Border Collie, named 'whiskey,' surprisingly remembers 54 of the 59 toys used in the experiment, and humans can retrieve the exact toys from the next room. It was said that. While repeating such experiments, the research team noticed that dogs with a talent for remembering their names often had 'squeaky neck gestures'.

In the experiment, the researcher told the dog the name of the toy (such as 'Sebastian') and had it recovered from the next room.



At this time, some dogs showed a squinting gesture, even asking 'what?'



The dog, who seems to understand the name of the toy, rushed to the next room.



Andrea Sommese, an ethologist at the University of Edvesh Lorand, who led the study, said the pattern of dogs bending their necks was consistent and didn't seem like a coincidence. 'So we decided to dig into (the dog's neck-squeezing gesture),' he said.

When the research team investigated previous research, on the Internet, 'dogs make it easier to hear words by bending their necks' 'dogs bend their necks to hear specific words and pronunciations' 'dogs bend their noses' The owners' speculation was found, such as 'bend your neck to see.' Some claimed that 'dogs know that their neck-squeezing gestures are attractive to their owners.' However, the research team says that few scientific studies were found.

So the research team conducted an analysis based on the data they collected. The results show that dogs with the ability to remember names shook their necks in 43% of dozens of trials, while ordinary dogs who did not remember the names of toys shook their necks in only 2%. .. Dogs tended to consistently bend their heads in the same direction during the months of the experiment. It didn't matter if the talented dog who remembered the name brought the right toy, whether he shook his head or not.

The Border Collie studied is that both ordinary dogs and talented dogs listen to human language on a daily basis, and it is related to 'being accustomed to listening to human language' and 'squatting'. It is hard to think that it was. The research team argues that the squinting gesture is associated with mental processes such as 'attention and concentration,' and that the dog may refer to the toy's visual memory and name. doing.



Monique Udell of Oregon State University, who studies human-animal interactions, points out that the study is preliminary, but believes it provides an exciting direction for dog cognition. I am. 'The next step is to ask more questions to find out what the tilt of the head really means. The squinting gesture can predict a dog's word-learning suitability, attention, and memory. 'Is it?' Said Udell.

Sommese, the research team, wants to follow up on the study by investigating the potential of other 'sounds' to cause neck-squeaking gestures in ordinary dogs that don't remember the name of the toy. ... apparently ...

in Science,   Creature, Posted by log1h_ik