How dogs learn to recognise the meaning of words

Unlike humans, dogs learn words by linking them to size and textures rather than shapes, according to a new study. Researchers from the University of Lincoln found that when a dog learns to associate a word with an object, it makes the association in a completely different way to humans.

When toddlers pick up language, they learn by associatingwords with the shapes of objects, the Daily mail reported. For example, toddlers who learn what a 'ball' is and are then presented other objects with similar shapes, sizes or textures will identify a similarly-shaped object as 'ball', rather than one of the same size or texture.

Dogs have been shown to associate words with objects, such as toys, but their learning process was unstudied. In the new study, researchers presented Gable, a five year old Border Collie, with similar choices to see if this 'shape
bias' exists in dogs. They found that after a brief training period, Gable
learned to associate the name of an object with its size, identifying other objects of similar size by the same name.

After a longer period of exposure to both a name and an object, the dog learned to associate a word to other objects of similar textures, but not to objects of similar shape. "The difference in the thought process between dogs and humans may come down to how evolutionary history has shaped our sense of perceiving shapes, sizes and textures," said Dr Emile van der Zee, who led the research.

"Though your dog understands the command 'Fetch the ball', he may think of the object in a very different way than you do when he hears it," Emile said.
"Where shape matters for us, size or texture matters more for your dog. This study shows for the first time that there is a qualitative difference in word comprehension in the dog compared to word comprehension in humans," Emile added.