Every dog lower wonders: Does he or she know what you’re saying? Owners sense that even if a dog doesn't "get" the precise meaning of words, surely it understands whether a tone is friendly, angry, pleading or questioning. Now a new medical imaging study shows that dogs' brains respond to actual words, not just tone of voice. The research gives insights into the origins of language and gratifies dog owners everywhere.

To see how dogs process human speech, a neuroscientist (brain specialist) in Hungary and his colleagues used brain scanners and 13 family dogs from four breeds: border collies, golden retrievers, Chinese crested dogs and German shepherds. The dogs had been trained to lie still in the scanner for eight minutes while hearing recordings of their trainer’s voice. The dogs heard meaningful, familiar words (well done, that's it, good boy, super, clever) in a praising tone and in a neutral tone. They also heard meaningless words (as if, however, nevertheless) in a neutral or praising tone of voice. The brain scans show that regardless of the trainer's tone, the pets process meaningful words in brain’s left hemisphere (side), just as we do. But the dogs don't do this for unfamiliar words. At the same time, the dogs process intonation in their right hemispheres — also like humans.

When they heard praise delivered in an upbeat, affectionate tone, a “reward” area of their brains was activated. Meaning and tone enhanced each other. "They integrate the two types of information to interpret what they heard, just as we do," says lead investigator Attila Andics of Budapest, whose study appeared last week in a journal called Science. His work suggests that the ability to process meaning and emotion in different parts of the brain and tie them together isn't uniquely human. This ability had already evolved in non-primates long before people started talking.

Lead researcher says: "Both what we say and how we say it matters to dogs." – Attila Andics, Hungarian neuroscientist

Biologist says: "It's an important study that shows that basic aspects of speech perception can be shared with quite distant relatives." -- Tecumseh Fitch, University of Vienna (not part of study)

Journalist says: “Next time someone gives you flak for holding a conversation with your pet, tell them that science is on your side.” – Kelli Bender, People magazine