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Dogs understand words from soundboard buttons, study reveals — ‘Our findings show words matter to dogs, and that they respond to the words themselves, not just to associated cues’: cognitive scientist

If you’ve seen those viral social media videos of dogs using soundboard buttons to “talk,” you’re not alone. These buttons have taken the pet world by storm, leading to impressive and sometimes seemingly miraculous feats shared across platforms like TikTok and Instagram. But are these dogs truly communicating, or are they just responding to cues from their owners? Now, a new study reveals that dogs trained with soundboard buttons can indeed comprehend specific words.

Rossano, who is also featured in the popular new Netflix documentary “ Inside the Mind of a Dog,” emphasizes that this research is just one step in his lab’s ongoing investigation of interspecies communication. Now, a new study published in PLOS ONE – by researchers from the University of California San Diego and other institutions – reveals that dogs trained with soundboard buttons can indeed comprehend specific words, producing contextually appropriate responses. The study data was collected in 2022 during the Omicron surge of the COVID-19 pandemic, with participants generously opening their homes to researchers, highlighting the growing public interest and engagement in citizen science.

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