Dogs probably won’t help you pass your next algebra exam, but according to scientists at Emory University, they do naturally process basic numbers, just like humans.
A recent study published in Biology Letters discovered that dogs inherently process numbers without training.
Researchers scanned the brains of 11 dogs looking at flashing dots on a screen. They found that the dogs’ parietotemporal cortexes reacted to differences in the number of dots displayed.
Numerosity, or a basic sensitivity to numerical data, is a spontaneous response seen in many different animals, but until now, research in this area relied on an animal training or reward system. This new study shows that those systems are unnecessary for dogs to display the response.
“Our work not only shows that dogs use a similar part of their brain to process numbers of objects as humans do,” explained Gregory Berns, the senior author of the study, “it shows that they don’t need to be trained to do it.”
“Our results provide some of the strongest evidence yet,” Berns added, “that numerosity is a shared neural mechanism [between dogs and humans] that goes back at least [80 million years].”
These findings underscore just how intrinsically similar humans and animals are. Even our most fundamental differences, such as the ability to process numerical data, aren’t as prominent as some of us think. It’s not only dogs; studies across the globe frequently show that humans and animals are elaborately interconnected. We must treat all creatures in a humane and loving way, or risk mistreating ourselves.
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I can verify that in that i often adopt/foster/find blind dogs. If blind for some time they become arithromaniacs. Tima and again i see them use exact number of steps before turning, avoiding a barrier,
stepping up to a stair, ducking under, and finding their favorite potty stop. I am always amazed.
Yes, treat all animals in a loving way.
Please edit this post to expose the animal cruelty involved in this silly, unnecessary experiment. Investigate and find out, where are those dogs now? Among other things. We already know dogs are smart in their own ways. Promoting vivisection is in no way anything that should even be considered here. So please, revise or delete.
Why are you glorifying experiments on dogs brains? To see if they can count? Seriously if you have a dog and you give it four treats every night before bed and one night you only give three you’re dog wait and wonder when is that 4th treat coming. You should investigate how the brain experiments were done and where and who etc
Thank you. LF has a link in the article about who and where this lab experiment took place. I’m just flabbergasted that an animal rights blog would report it as if it’s.a wonderful breakthrough insight into animal intelligence, when in fact, it only proves how lacking in perceptiveness and basic intelligence vivisectors are.
Dogs 🐶🐕🐾 are incredibly smart. My dog figured out if she tucked her front paws under her body and walked on her knes I wouldn’t be able to hear her approaching me.
Re: “Researchers scanned the brains of 11 dogs looking at flashing dots on a screen. They found that the dogs’ parietotemporal cortexes reacted to differences in the number of dots displayed.”
How sad and pathetic that vivisectors can’t learn anything by simple observation of animals’ behavior in their natural environment.
And I wonder if Lady Freethinker realizes that it’s giving vivisectors positive attention, even though this experiment is relatively very benign compared to some of the horrors performed in the name of “science.”
This does not surprise me a bit. Dogs can figure out things by process of elimination too. Our little dog has a bunch of toys & each one has a different name, & we send him for a particular toy & he picks out the correct one. We put down a toy he’s never seen before & tell him to get “fishy” & he goes from toy to toy & picks out the one he’s never seen before. Incredibly smart, dogs are.