Our dogs recognize us, and are they capable of it even when neither sight nor smell are there to guide them, so they can only use their voice as a reference? The answer is yes according to a study by the Loránd Eötvös University in Hungary, published in the journal Animal Cognition. The researchers invited 28 owner-dog pairs to play hide and seek in the laboratory. The dogs had to find their owner in one of two hiding places set up, while a stranger was hiding behind the other. The voice of the owner from his hiding place and in a neutral tone resonated with that of a stranger from the other. The rounds performed were different: the ‘friendly’ voice was overall combined with those of 14 different strangers, some more similar, others different. Dogs found their owner in 82% of cases. To make sure the smells didn’t help them, in the last two rounds the scholars made the owner’s voice ring from where a stranger was hiding — the dogs kept looking for him, showing that they didn’t use smell in this task. The researchers also explored what exactly in the entries helped dogs choose. “People — explains Anna Gábor, lead author of the study — mainly use three properties: tone, noise and timbre, to differentiate one person from another. If two voices differ in one property that is important for dogs, deciding should be easier” .
A physics student passionate about everything. Photographer and cryptoartist at https://opensea.io/Vertrose22. Author of "The Red Ant" https://amzn.eu/d/aJ5VitR
