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Neural evidence for referential understanding of object words in dogs

2024; Elsevier BV; Volume: 34; Issue: 8 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.cub.2024.02.029

1879-0445

Marianna Boros, Lilla Magyari, Boglárka Morvai, Raúl Hernández-Pérez, Shany Dror, Attila Andics,

Action Observation and Synchronization

Using words to refer to objects in the environment is a core feature of the human language faculty. Referential understanding assumes the formation of mental representations of these words.1Bloom P. Précis of how children learn the meanings of words.Behav. Brain Sci. 2001; 24: 1095-1103Crossref PubMed Google Scholar,2Waxman S.R. Gelman S.A. Early word-learning entails reference, not merely associations.Trends Cogn. Sci. 2009; 13: 258-263Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar Such understanding of object words has not yet been demonstrated as a general capacity in any non-human species,3Fitch W.T. Animal cognition and the evolution of human language: why we cannot focus solely on communication.Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B Biol. Sci. 2020; 37520190046Crossref PubMed Scopus (28) Google Scholar despite multiple behavior-based case reports.4Pepperberg I.M. Cognitive and communicative abilities of grey parrots.Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 2006; 100: 77-86Crossref Scopus (0) Google Scholar,5Herman L.M. Richards D.G. Wolz J.P. Comprehension of sentences by bottlenosed dolphins.Cognition. 1984; 16: 129-219Crossref PubMed Google Scholar,6Fugazza C. Miklósi Á. Depths and limits of spontaneous categorization in a family dog.Sci. Rep. 2020; 10: 3082Crossref PubMed Scopus (7) Google Scholar,7Kaminski J. Call J. Fischer J. Word learning in a domestic dog: evidence for "fast mapping".Science. 2004; 304: 1682-1683Crossref PubMed Scopus (329) Google Scholar,8Pilley J.W. Reid A.K. Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents.Behav. Processes. 2011; 86: 184-195Crossref PubMed Scopus (193) Google Scholar,9Savage-Rumbaugh S. Ape Language: From Conditioned Response to Symbol. Columbia University Press, 1986Crossref Google Scholar,10Savage-Rumbaugh E.S. Murphy J. Sevcik R.A. Brakke K.E. Williams S.L. Rumbaugh D.M. Bates E. Language comprehension in ape and child.Monogr. Soc. Res. Child Dev. 1993; 58Crossref PubMed Scopus (331) Google Scholar In human event-related potential (ERP) studies, object word knowledge is typically tested using the semantic violation paradigm, where words are presented either with their referent (match) or another object (mismatch).11Friedrich M. Friederici A.D. Phonotactic knowledge and lexical-semantic processing in one-year-olds: brain responses to words and nonsense words in picture contexts.J. Cogn. Neurosci. 2005; 17: 1785-1802Crossref PubMed Scopus (129) Google Scholar,12Kutas M. Federmeier K.D. Thirty years and counting: finding meaning in the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP).Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011; 62: 621-647Crossref PubMed Scopus (2720) Google Scholar Such mismatch elicits an N400 effect, a well-established neural correlate of semantic processing.12Kutas M. Federmeier K.D. Thirty years and counting: finding meaning in the N400 component of the event-related brain potential (ERP).Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2011; 62: 621-647Crossref PubMed Scopus (2720) Google Scholar,13Lau E.F. Phillips C. Poeppel D. A cortical network for semantics: (de)constructing the N400.Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2008; 9: 920-933Crossref PubMed Scopus (1160) Google Scholar Reports of preverbal infant N400 evoked by semantic violations14Parise E. Csibra G. Electrophysiological evidence for the understanding of maternal speech by 9-month-old infants.Psychol. Sci. 2012; 23: 728-733Crossref PubMed Scopus (102) Google Scholar assert the use of this paradigm to probe mental representations of object words in nonverbal populations. Here, measuring dogs' (Canis familiaris) ERPs to objects primed with matching or mismatching object words, we found a mismatch effect at a frontal electrode, with a latency (206–606 ms) comparable to the human N400. A greater difference for words that dogs knew better, according to owner reports, further supported a semantic interpretation of this effect. Semantic expectations emerged irrespective of vocabulary size, demonstrating the prevalence of referential understanding in dogs. These results provide the first neural evidence for object word knowledge in a non-human animal.Video abstracteyJraWQiOiI4ZjUxYWNhY2IzYjhiNjNlNzFlYmIzYWFmYTU5NmZmYyIsImFsZyI6IlJTMjU2In0.eyJzdWIiOiIzNmUxNTZlZTRmODljYmY2OTg3YjMwN2Y4ZTk1ZWQ3NSIsImtpZCI6IjhmNTFhY2FjYjNiOGI2M2U3MWViYjNhYWZhNTk2ZmZjIiwiZXhwIjoxNzExMjA2NzYzfQ.p_09wUY7R7wJB-x7mPybfTJZzE4RNcCNE_cxRchExL2tSw6k-Sa5oGiNaP0vz0aW7Ja0e2_Xt9xdArJJHw-zHbSzVPp6_zfi0Jhp5NDR_-H9hth8VEfOJIVfDor9KCNO2cxYYVcddJnIVGxRjSgIobdDLFK9Nq6rxmx9pRc7OrB-oeeVAvARTnVqOIUHXmWUVHyNRrF40BLKeHbIb5v00v9oLCN_6Bb1xh6No1BQFWGg9rzhKBBHkxBMn7UqRiZNBa2Mv758tWBs3-_TlgRGV1tdxRg9M6f3PdeLBu5IiMPH1FjNIOs2AHw9n7OgOjiq2CsRQSo6eEw8JGDcXZv9sA(mp4, (23.75 MB) Download video