Dogs understand what humans are saying, study suggests
Researchers scanned the brains of dogs while they were listening to their trainers speak.
Man's best friend really does understand some of what we are saying, scientists are suggesting.
Researchers at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest scanned the brains of dogs as they were listening to their trainer speaking.
They found dogs processed words with the left hemisphere, while intonation was processed with the right hemisphere - the same as humans.
The dogs only registered they were being praised if the words and intonation were positive.
Meaningless words spoken in an encouraging voice, or meaningful words in a neutral tone, did not have the same effect.
Lead researcher Attila Andics said: "Dog brains care about both what we say and how we say it. Praise can work as a reward only if both word meaning and intonation match."