Scientists have found similarities in the brain of dogs and humans in self-control
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- Scientists have found similarities in the brain of dogs and humans in self-control
The dog sees his favorite treat right in front of him, but waits for the owner's permission to take it. At this point, her brain shows activity similar to that associated with self-control in humans. Researchers from Hungary came to this conclusion after studying the electroencephalograms of 14 dogs. What exactly was discovered and why it does not mean that animals perceive the ban in the same way as humans, is in the "Izvestia" material.
How dogs' ability to wait was tested
Usually, a dog's self-control is judged by its behavior: whether it grabbed food without permission or was able to wait for a command. The authors of a study in the journal Animal Cognition decided to test whether waiting is accompanied by changes in brain function.
The experiment involved 14 domestic dogs who had already been trained not to take a treat or toy if the owner did not allow it. The animals were located next to the owner, and scientists recorded the electrical activity of their brains using electroencephalography —EEG). The method allows you to take measurements while the dog is awake.
The researchers compared the two states. In the first case, the dog was calmly in its place. In the second, an attractive treat was placed in front of her, sometimes a toy, and the owner gave the command to wait. The object remained within reach. After about half a minute of recording, the dog was allowed to take it.
In total, the scientists received 226 short EEG recordings. These are repeated measurements in 14 animals, not data from 226 different dogs. The sequence of periods of waiting and quiet wakefulness was changed to compare states in similar conditions.
What signal did the scientists find?
When the dogs were waiting for permission, activity increased in the front of the head in the range of so-called theta waves — from 4 to 8 Hz. In humans, activity in this range, especially above the frontal areas, is associated with cognitive control: situations where you need to focus, cope with conflicting urges, or refrain from acting. The researchers also found other changes in the dogs' EEG that may be related to the work of broader neural networks.
"In situations requiring self-monitoring, we observed EEG activity that resembles human theta waves in both frequency and location," explained Ivaylo Yotchev, one of the authors of the work, in a statement from the Lorand Etves University.
The researchers believe that the result makes it possible to study the self-control of dogs not only by external behavior. If the animal does not take the treat, the EEG helps to see what changes in brain activity accompany waiting.
Does this mean that dogs understand the word "no"?
The study does not provide an answer to this question. The owners did give the dogs a command, but the scientists did not compare different words and did not check what meaning the animals attached to the ban. The subject of the work was brain activity during waiting, when the dog should refrain from immediate action.
The similarity of the EEG signals also does not prove that a dog reflects on a situation or experiences an effort in the same way as a human. The authors themselves note that the found indicators do not allow us to distinguish between the different components of cognitive control. The dog could simultaneously restrain movement, monitor the treat and wait for the owner's permission.
There is also a question of scale: 14 trained dogs participated in the work. Additional research will be required to find out how stable the observed signal is in other animals and in other tasks.
Why Study Dog Self-control
According to the authors, EEG can be an affordable way to explore how the work of the dog's brain changes with age and how it relates to behavior. Researchers are considering, among other things, the possibility in the future to study conditions resembling individual manifestations of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as well as eating disorders. These are the areas of further work, not the established connection found in this experiment.
"Dogs live and age faster than humans, but they live in the same environment and adapt to similar social and physical conditions," said study co—author Marta Gachi.
According to her, this makes the observation of age-related changes in dogs potentially useful for comparative studies.
In the meantime, the work shows a more specific thing: when a trained dog is restrained from the treats available to it, the changes in its EEG in some ways resemble a human signal associated with cognitive control. Scientists have yet to figure out exactly how this signal is related to the animal's experiences and decisions.
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