Thesis supervisor: Dorottya Júlia Ujfalussy
co-supervisor: József Topál
Location of studies (in Hungarian): HUN-REN Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, ELTE Department of Ethology Abbreviation of location of studies: ELTE
Description of the research topic:
While word comprehension of the average family dog is limited (Reeve & Jacques, 2022), evidence of stunning interspecies variability has been recently shown, as a handful of individuals (so-called gifted word learners or GWL dogs) have been reported to learn word-object relations in a manner unprecedented among non-human species(Fugazza et al., 2021).
In line with these findings, we hypothesize that GWL dogs may model the pre-linguistic state of human evolution. However, to fully understand this potential we need direct comparative investigations of word learning and comprehension skills in dogs (both typical and GWL individuals) and children (typically developing & with special language impairment), which is absent from present research.
Interestingly, the enhanced capacity of learning words seems to be exclusive to object labels, as no difference between typical and GWL dogs has been found in learning action labels (Ramos & Mills, 2019). Children are focused on objects in their surroundings from a very young age, manipulation by the hand enhancing means of exploration and object-word association formation (Bourgeois et al., 2005). We aim to answer questions whether object focus is a prerequisite for efficient language learning, or whether linking an action of a function to an object and its label could enhance acquisition.
Moreover, similarly to human babies, dogs are sensitive to morpho-syntactical regularities and can find word boundaries in language (Boros et al., 2021). There is anecdotal evidence that dogs can discriminate between the language they have been socialized in from another language (Cuaya et al., 2022). We would like to find out if intraspecies variability may be present in these skills as well, both in dogs (typical and GWL) and children (typically developing and SLI). If so, we aim to investigate how this variability affects efficiency in language learning and use.
In summary, contrasting the performance of a non-manipulative species (dogs) with a highly manipulative species (humans), taking advantage of the intraspecies variability in both, using similar behavioural/cognitive as well as neurocognitive methodologies has the potential to shed light on the evolution of domain-general vs. species-specific (potentially uniquely human) learning skills related to language.
References
Boros, M., Magyari, L., Török, D., Bozsik, A., Deme, A., & Andics, A. (2021). Neural processes underlying statistical learning for speech segmentation in dogs. Current Biology, 31(24), 5512-5521.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.10.017
Bourgeois, K. S., Khawar, A. W., Neal, S. A., & Lockman, J. J. (2005). Infant Manual Exploration of Objects, Surfaces, and Their Interrelations. Infancy, 8(3), 233–252. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327078in0803_3
Cuaya, L. V., Hernández-Pérez, R., Boros, M., Deme, A., & Andics, A. (2022). Speech naturalness detection and language representation in the dog brain. NeuroImage, 248, 118811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118811
Fugazza, C., Andics, A., Magyari, L., Dror, S., Zempléni, A., & Miklósi, Á. (2021). Rapid learning of object names in dogs. Scientific Reports, 11, 2222. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-81699-2
Ramos, D., & Mills, D. S. (2019). Limitations in the learning of verbal content by dogs during the training of OBJECT and ACTION commands. Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 31, 92–99. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jveb.2019.03.011
Reeve, C., & Jacques, S. (2022). Responses to spoken words by domestic dogs: A new instrument for use with dog owners. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 246, 105513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2021.105513
Required language skills: English Number of students who can be accepted: 1
Deadline for application: 2024-05-31
2024. IV. 17. ODT ülés Az ODT következő ülésére 2024. június 14-én, pénteken 10.00 órakor kerül sor a Semmelweis Egyetem Szenátusi termében (Bp. Üllői út 26. I. emelet).
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