Social relationship-dependent neural response to speech in dogs

You talkin' to me? Functional breed selection may have fundamentally influenced dogs' sensitivity to human verbal communicative cues

BACKGROUND

The ability to learn from humans via observation was considered to be equally present across properly socialized dogs. We showed recently that cooperative working breeds learned from a human demonstrator more effectively. We hypothesized that functional breed selection could affect sensitivity to human attention-eliciting behavior. Accordingly, we ran the first ever study on dogs that compared the effect of ostensive and neutral verbal communication in a social learning scenario. We used the detour paradigm around a transparent V-shaped fence with either ostensive (addressing the receiver both with words and specific, attention-eliciting prosody) or neutral speech (monotonous reciting of a short poem) demonstration. The other features (gestures, movement) of the demonstration sequence were kept identical between the two conditions. We tested (N = 70) companion dogs from 17 cooperative and 16 independent breeds in three 1-min trials. Subjects had to obtain the reward by detouring around the fence.

RESULTS

Detour latencies of the cooperative dogs improved after both ostensive and neutral speech demonstrations. The independent dogs did not improve their detour latency in either of the conditions. Remarkably, ostensive verbal utterances elicited longer relative looking time towards the demonstrator, cooperative dogs looked longer at the demonstrator, and longer looking time resulted in more successful detours.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study provides the first indication that functional breed selection had a significant impact on dogs' sensitivity to ostensive human communication, which, apart from being crucially important for social learning from humans, until now was considered as a uniformly present heritage of domestication in dogs.

Domestication and exposure to human social stimuli are not sufficient to trigger attachment to humans: a companion pig-dog comparative study

Dogs exhibit human-analogue attachment to their owners, with similar function and mechanisms to that of infant-mother bond, but its origin is unclear. Comparative studies on socialised wolves and dogs emphasise genetic influence in dogs' preparedness for attachment to humans. We aimed to reveal if this genetic effect stems from general domestication or artificial selection that increased dogs' dependence on humans. We assessed and compared behavioural patterns of young companion pigs and dogs using a Strange Situation Test. Dogs but not pigs exhibited distinct behaviours towards their owner and a stranger along attachment-specific variables, so only dogs' relevant behaviours fulfilled attachment criteria. From the observed behaviours, three factors were formed: Attachment (to the owner), Anxiety (in a strange situation), and Acceptance (of a stranger). Results indicate (1) higher Attachment scores in dogs than pigs, (2) greater Acceptance scores in pigs, (3) positive correlation of Attachment and Anxiety in both, (4) similar time tendency of pigs' Attachment and Acceptance scores. These suggest that in pigs, domestication and early exposure to human social stimuli did not trigger attachment to humans. Thus, along with species predispositions, the unique dog-owner attachment can be facilitated by artificial selection that increased dogs' dependence on humans.

The influence of voice familiarity and linguistic content on dogs' ability to follow human voice direction

Domestic dogs are well-known for their abilities to utilize human referential cues for problem solving, including following the direction of human voice. This study investigated whether dogs can locate hidden food relying only on the direction of human voice and whether familiarity with the speaker (owner/stranger) and the relevance of auditory signal features (ostensive addressing indicating the intent for communication to the receiver; linguistic content) affect performance. N = 35 dogs and their owners participated in four conditions in a two-way object choice task. Dogs were presented with referential auditory cues representing different combinations of three contextual parameters: the (I) 'familiarity with the human informant' (owner vs. stranger), the (II) communicative function of attention getter (ostensive addressing vs. non-ostensive cueing) and the (III) 'tone and content of the auditory cue' (high-pitched/potentially relevant vs. low-pitched/potentially irrelevant). Dogs also participated in a 'standard' pointing condition where a visual cue was provided. Significant differences were observed between conditions regarding correct choices and response latencies, suggesting that dogs' response to auditory signals are influenced by the combination of content and intonation of the message and the identity of the speaker. Dogs made correct choices the most frequently when context-relevant auditory information was provided by their owners and showed less success when auditory signals were coming from the experimenter. Correct choices in the 'Pointing' condition were similar to the experimenter auditory conditions, but less frequent compared to the owner condition with potentially relevant auditory information. This was paralleled by shorter response latencies in the owner condition compared to the experimenter conditions, although the two measures were not related. Subjects' performance in response to the owner- and experimenter-given auditory cues were interrelated, but unrelated to responses to pointing gestures, suggesting that dogs' ability to understand the referential nature of auditory cues and visual gestures partly arise from different socio-cognitive skills.

Comment on "Human-directed attachment behaviour in wolves suggests standing ancestral variation for human-dog attachment bonds"

In their recent paper, Hansen Wheat et al. (Ecology and Evolution, 2022, 12, e9299) claimed that hand raised 23-week-old wolves showed the same attachment behaviour towards their handler in the Strange Situation Test (SST) (Determinants of infant behavior, 1969, 4, 111) as dogs. At first glance, their results seem to contradict previous findings that domestication caused a unique change in social-affiliative behaviours in dogs (Animal Behaviour, 2005, 70, 1367). We argue that no persuading evidence was presented to claim that "wolves can show attachment behaviours towards humans comparable to those of dogs". When dealing with a behaviour system (Child Development, 1977, 48, 1184), the subjects' behaviour must meet consistent criteria (Behavioural and Brain Science, 1978, 3, 417), and a few behavioural preferences should not be used to claim the presence of an attachment system, especially, if the experiment violates basic assumptions of the original test. We believe the intriguing scientific question is whether the dog-owner relationship is qualitatively different from what could be observed in the wolf-hand raiser relation. Assessing all available data, our answer is still yes; dogs are unique in this respect.

Dog brains are sensitive to infant- and dog-directed prosody

When addressing preverbal infants and family dogs, people tend to use specific speech styles. While recent studies suggest acoustic parallels between infant- and dog-directed speech, it is unclear whether dogs, like infants, show enhanced neural sensitivity to prosodic aspects of speech directed to them. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging on awake unrestrained dogs we identify two non-primary auditory regions, one that involve the ventralmost part of the left caudal Sylvian gyrus and the temporal pole and the other at the transition of the left caudal and rostral Sylvian gyrus, which respond more to naturalistic dog- and/or infant-directed speech than to adult-directed speech, especially when speak by female speakers. This activity increase is driven by sensitivity to fundamental frequency mean and variance resulting in positive modulatory effects of these acoustic parameters in both aforementioned non-primary auditory regions. These findings show that the dog auditory cortex, similarly to that of human infants, is sensitive to the acoustic properties of speech directed to non-speaking partners. This increased neuronal responsiveness to exaggerated prosody may be one reason why dogs outperform other animals when processing speech.

Owner-rated hyperactivity/impulsivity is associated with sleep efficiency in family dogs: a non-invasive EEG study

Subjective sleep disturbances are reported by humans with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, no consistent objective findings related to sleep disturbances led to the removal of sleep problems from ADHD diagnostic criteria. Dogs have been used as a model for human ADHD with questionnaires validated for this purpose. Also, their sleep physiology can be measured by non-invasive methods similarly to humans. In the current study, we recorded spontaneous sleep EEG in family dogs during a laboratory session. We analyzed the association of sleep macrostructure and deep sleep (NREM) slow-wave activity (SWA) with a validated owner-rated ADHD questionnaire, assessing inattention (IA), hyperactivity/impulsivity (H/I) and total (T) scores. Higher H/I and T were associated with lower sleep efficiency and longer time awake after initial drowsiness and NREM. IA showed no associations with sleep variables. Further, no association was found between ADHD scores and SWA. Our results are in line with human studies in which poor sleep quality reported by ADHD subjects is associated with some objective EEG macrostructural parameters. This suggests that natural variation in dogs' H/I is useful to gain a deeper insight of ADHD neural mechanisms.

Dog and human neural sensitivity to voicelikeness: A comparative fMRI study

Voice-sensitivity in the auditory cortex of a range of mammals has been proposed to be determined primarily by tuning to conspecific auditory stimuli, but recent human findings indicate a role for a more general tuning to voicelikeness. Vocal emotional valence, a central characteristic of vocalisations, has been linked to the same basic acoustic parameters across species. Comparative neuroimaging revealed that during voice perception, such acoustic parameters modulate emotional valence-sensitivity in auditory cortical regions in both family dogs and humans. To explore the role of voicelikeness in auditory emotional valence-sensitivity across species, here we constructed artificial emotional sounds in two sound categories: voice-like vs. sine-wave sounds, parametrically modulating two main acoustic parameters, f0 and call length. We hypothesised that if mammalian auditory systems are characterised by a general tuning to voicelikeness, voice-like sounds will be processed preferentially, and acoustic parameters for voice-like sounds will be processed differently than for sine-wave sounds - both in dogs and humans. We found cortical areas in both species that responded stronger to voice-like than to sine-wave stimuli, while there were no regions responding stronger to sine-wave sounds in either species. Additionally, we found that in bilateral primary and emotional valence-sensitive auditory regions of both species, the processing of voice-like and sine-wave sounds are modulated by f0 in opposite ways. These results reveal functional similarities between evolutionarily distant mammals for processing voicelikeness and its effect on processing basic acoustic cues of vocal emotions.

Differences in dogs' event-related potentials in response to human and dog vocal stimuli; a non-invasive study

Recent advances in the field of canine neuro-cognition allow for the non-invasive research of brain mechanisms in family dogs. Considering the striking similarities between dog's and human (infant)'s socio-cognition at the behavioural level, both similarities and differences in neural background can be of particular relevance. The current study investigates brain responses of n = 17 family dogs to human and conspecific emotional vocalizations using a fully non-invasive event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. We found that similarly to humans, dogs show a differential ERP response depending on the species of the caller, demonstrated by a more positive ERP response to human vocalizations compared to dog vocalizations in a time window between 250 and 650 ms after stimulus onset. A later time window between 800 and 900 ms also revealed a valence-sensitive ERP response in interaction with the species of the caller. Our results are, to our knowledge, the first ERP evidence to show the species sensitivity of vocal neural processing in dogs along with indications of valence sensitive processes in later post-stimulus time periods.

Attachment towards the Owner Is Associated with Spontaneous Sleep EEG Parameters in Family Dogs

Simple Summary

Dogs have been shown to form attachment bonds towards their owners analogous to the human infant-parent attachment. In humans, the neurological background of variation in attachment and similar trait-like social behaviors has been described. It is known that certain sleep parameters are in association with an individual’s attachment-related traits. In the current study, we provide the first evidence that dogs’ attachment towards their owner is also associated to dogs’ sleep structure (the time they spend in the different sleep stages) as well as to their brain activity during sleep. Thus, as in humans, when dogs sleep in a novel environment (in the presence of their owners), differences in their attachment bond are reflected in their sleep EEG characteristics.

Abstract

Affective neuroscience studies have demonstrated the impact of social interactions on sleep quality. In humans, trait-like social behaviors, such as attachment, are related to sleep brain activity patterns. Our aim was to investigate associations between companion dogs’ spontaneous brain activity during sleep (in the presence of the owner) and their relevant behavior in a task-free social context assessing their attachment towards the owner. In random order, each dog participated in a non-invasive sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) measurement and in the Strange Situation Test (SST) to assess their attachment behavior. We found that higher attachment scores were associated with more time spent in NREM sleep, lower NREM alpha power activity and lower NREM alpha–delta anticorrelation. Our results reveal that, when dogs sleep in a novel environment in the company of their owners, differences in their attachment are reflected in their sleep EEG characteristics. This could be best explained by the different degree that owners could be used as a safe haven in an unfamiliar environment and during the unusual procedure of the first EEG measurement.

The acoustic bases of human voice identity processing in dogs

Speech carries identity-diagnostic acoustic cues that help individuals recognize each other during vocal–social interactions. In humans, fundamental frequency, formant dispersion and harmonics-to-noise ratio serve as characteristics along which speakers can be reliably separated. The ability to infer a speaker’s identity is also adaptive for members of other species (like companion animals) for whom humans (as owners) are relevant. The acoustic bases of speaker recognition in non-humans are unknown. Here, we tested whether dogs can recognize their owner’s voice and whether they rely on the same acoustic parameters for such recognition as humans use to discriminate speakers. Stimuli were pre-recorded sentences spoken by the owner and control persons, played through loudspeakers placed behind two non-transparent screens (with each screen hiding a person). We investigated the association between acoustic distance of speakers (examined along several dimensions relevant in intraspecific voice identification) and dogs’ behavior. Dogs chose their owner’s voice more often than that of control persons’, suggesting that they can identify it. Choosing success and time spent looking in the direction of the owner’s voice were positively associated, showing that looking time is an index of the ease of choice. Acoustic distance of speakers in mean fundamental frequency and jitter were positively associated with looking time, indicating that the shorter the acoustic distance between speakers with regard to these parameters, the harder the decision. So, dogs use these cues to discriminate their owner’s voice from unfamiliar voices. These findings reveal that dogs use some but probably not all acoustic parameters that humans use to identify speakers. Although dogs can detect fine changes in speech, their perceptual system may not be fully attuned to identity-diagnostic cues in the human voice.