Back to Search Start Over

Neural mechanisms for lexical processing in dogs

Authors :
Ádám Miklósi
Dóra Szabó
Tamás Faragó
Anna Gábor
Attila Andics
Márta Gácsi
Source :
Science (New York, N.Y.). 353(6303)
Publication Year :
2016

Abstract

During speech processing, human listeners can separately analyze lexical and intonational cues to arrive at a unified representation of communicative content. The evolution of this capacity can be best investigated by comparative studies. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we explored whether and how dog brains segregate and integrate lexical and intonational information. We found a hemispheric bias for processing meaningful words, independently of intonation; an auditory brain region for distinguishing intonationally marked and unmarked words; and increased activity in primary reward regions only when both lexical and intonational information were consistent with praise. Neural mechanisms to separately analyze and integrate word meaning and intonation in dogs suggest that this capacity can evolve in the absence of language.

Details

ISSN :
10959203
Volume :
353
Issue :
6303
Database :
OpenAIRE
Journal :
Science (New York, N.Y.)
Accession number :
edsair.doi.dedup.....a9ed3e1e9f6823332bbc86a6888e21e7