By The European Times | Created at 2026-10-12 16:11:56 | Updated at 2026-10-13 19:56:52
1 day ago
The study challenges prevailing views on the evolution of language
A new study conducted by Hungarian researchers reveals that dogs can segment continuous speech into words—a capability previously observed only in humans.
Hungarian researchers from Budapest have discovered that human speech changes the way dogs’ brains work, even though the animals cannot speak themselves.
The experiment involved 20 dogs and 20 humans, comparing their brain responses to various words. Using special sensors placed on the participants’ heads, scientists measured brain electrical activity while the subjects listened to continuous speech devoid of pauses or acoustic breaks.
“We place scalp electrodes on the heads of both dogs and humans and measure brain electrical activity while playing continuous speech to them—to both the dogs and the humans,” says cognitive neuroscientist Attila Andics.
The testing involved three types of speech patterns: word skeletons, consonant-based patterns, and vowel-based patterns. Both dogs and humans exhibited increased brain activity when processing speech composed of consonants. “We found that with consonant-based speech, this rhythmic activity increased to a greater extent than with vowel-based speech or speech with a random composition—in both dogs and humans,” notes Attila Andics.
The study challenges conventional views on language evolution by demonstrating that speech can influence brain function without the need for complex linguistic systems.
“There is no reason to claim that this could not be observed in other animals as well, since the pattern-processing mechanisms we see at work here are found in many other species. What makes dogs unique in this instance is that they pay attention to speech. They are interested in speech. They are interested in us humans. That is why they simply have a much better chance when it comes to recognizing patterns and words within continuous speech,” adds Attila Andics.
Dogs do not merely listen to us; their brains actually develop and change as a result of living alongside us.
Illustrative photo: pexels-nesrin-ozturk-213162154-12661995
