ESCUELA SUPERIOR POLITECNICA DE

CHIMBORAZO
LANGUAGE CENTER
ENGLISH

THEME:
ESSAY: THEY ARE LIKE US
NAME: CODE:
 Zamora Yadira 2267
LEVEL:
THIRD “R”
Academic period:

April 2018 - August 2018

Date:

July 13rd, 2018

RIOBAMBA-ECUADOR
 THEY ARE LIKE US

Good dog! Canine brains separate tone of speech from its meaning. Like human brains,
those in dogs process both what something means and how it's said.

As parents love to say, "It's not just what you say, but how you say it." Now, a new study
shows that the same applies to dogs. Our furry1 friends process speech much as people
do.They can differentiate the tone of voice process from the meaning of words.

Meaningful2 words or phrases, like "good boy," activate the left side of a dog's brain no
matter how they 're said. But the brain processes the tone of voice used to speak a word or
phrase on its right side.

The same is true in people. We process what something means using the left hemisphere of
our brains. And we interpret the tone in which it's spoken using the right side. This process
allows us to distinguish words with meaning from random sounds. But researchers didn't
know whether that division of labor in the brain evolved before or after people acquired
3
language, says Attila Andics. He's a neuroscientist at Eötvos Lorand University in
Budapest, Hungary.

Dogs have a close connection to people. That makes them ideal for testing how they
process speech. "Humans use words towards dogs in their everyday, normal
communication," Andics points out. "And dogs pay attention to this speech in a way that
cats and hamsters don't."

He and his team trained dogs to lie very still. Then they scanned the animals brains using a
functional MRI (MRI) machine. It shows when and where a brain responds as signals come
in. During the scan, the scientists played the dogs the recorded voice of a trainer. This
person spoke meaningful praise words, surch as "good girl," or neutral words, such as
"however." The tone of voice used could be either neutral or enthusiastic.

1
Furry: peludo
2
Meaningful:significativa
3
Acquired: adquirido

RIOBAMBA-ECUADOR
The dogs showed increased activity in the left side of their brains when they heard the
meaningful words but not the neutral ones. Meanwhile4, an area on the right side of their
brains reacted to the tone used with the words. It could separate out those spoken
enthusiastically from those spoken without emotion.

The combination of both praising5 words and an enthusiastic tone of voice caused the
reward center-a part of the brain associated with getting something pleasing -to become
more active. That means that the dogs had the same neurological response to an excited
"Good dog!" as thcy might to being petted6 or receiving a treat. When praise7 words or an
enthusiastic tone were used separately, they didn't have the same effect.

In conclusion, dogs know when we are praising them and if we really express what we feel.
And although it is true that dogs do not speak, because they do not have this ability, when
they are spoken to, they can often understand what is He tells them by relating words to
objects and intonation. For example, when he is scolded, when we use a more angry tone,
the dog is already able to detect the intonation. There he knows that something is not right,
so his tendency will be to hide.

4
Meanwhile: mientras tanto
5
Praising: elogiar
6
Petted: acariciar
7
Praise: elogiar

RIOBAMBA-ECUADOR