Laurie's Blogs.

I came across what I think to be a super cute study!

Sommese A, Miklósi Á, Pogány Á, Temesi A, Dror S, Fugazza C. An exploratory analysis of head-tilting in dogs. Anim Cogn. 2022 Jun;25(3):701-705. 

So, I wanted to share it!

This research explores sensory processing asymmetry in dogs, focusing on head-tilting in response to verbal cues. Previous studies demonstrated that dogs exhibit lateralized brain functions, such as turning their heads left during familiar spoken commands and right when hearing meaningless stimuli. Neuroimaging confirmed that dogs show right-hemisphere specialization for processing speech, particularly praise words.

The study investigates whether head-tilting, an asymmetrical movement, correlates with processing meaningful auditory stimuli, specifically when dogs are asked to fetch toys by name. Researchers hypothesized that dogs who are better at learning object labels, termed Gifted Word Learners (GWL), would tilt their heads more frequently when hearing a toy's name than typical dogs. A consistent head-tilt direction would suggest asymmetric auditory processing, while a lack of population bias would imply the behavior is more related to attention or habit.

The study involved 40 dogs, 33 typical dogs and 7 GWL dogs, and observed head-tilting during object name learning and memory tasks.

This research consisted of three experiments investigating head-tilting behavior in dogs during object-label learning tasks.

Experiment 1: Monthly Tests with Two Toys

All 40 dogs participated, including 33 typical dogs and 7 Gifted Word Learners (GWL). Dogs underwent three months of training to learn the names of two toys, with monthly tests. During each test, the owner asked the dog to fetch a specific toy by name. Each test included 12 trials per dog using the same pair of toys, with the head-tilts being observed during the owner's verbal request.

Experiment 2: Monthly Tests with Multiple Toys

Only GWL dogs, which had learned toy names above chance level, were included in this experiment. The six GWL dogs were tested with varying numbers of toys (from 2 to 13 per month), based on how many toys each dog learned. The head-tilting behavior was observed during each trial, and the total number of trials varied from dog to dog, ranging from 15 to 59 across three months.

Experiment 3: Genius Dog Challenge

Six GWL dogs participated in this challenge, where they had to learn the names of 6 new toys in the first phase and 12 additional toys in the second phase. They had 7 days to learn the names of the toys, and on the seventh day, their learning was tested. Each dog completed 15 trials in the first phase and 27 in the second, following the same setup as the previous experiments.

Behavioral Data Collection

For every trial, the presence or absence of a head-tilt was recorded from the moment the owner began speaking until the dog left to fetch a toy. The direction of the tilt and the owner's position relative to the dog (left, in front, or right) were noted. Head-tilting was defined as the dog cocking its head to either side. An independent coder analyzed 20% of the videos to ensure consistency in the observations.

The study's results showed a significant difference in head-tilting behavior between Gifted Word Learner (GWL) dogs and typical dogs.

Key Findings:

• Head-tilt Frequency: In Experiment 1, GWL dogs tilted their heads during 43% of trials, while typical dogs did so in only 2% of trials. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001), indicating that head-tilting is much more frequent in GWL dogs.
• Direction Consistency: Across all experiments, the direction of head-tilts was consistent within individual dogs over time, suggesting head-tilt direction is a stable trait. This consistency mirrors findings in other lateralized behaviors, such as paw preference.
• Owner Position: The owner’s position relative to the dog did not influence the side of the head-tilt, ruling out the sound source as a factor.

Interpretation:

• Increased Attention and Cross-modal Processing: GWL dogs’ frequent head-tilts in response to familiar verbal commands suggest the behavior may reflect heightened attention or cross-modal matching (linking verbal cues with mental images of objects). The difference in behavior is likely related to the meaningfulness of the words to GWL dogs, rather than familiarity alone, as both GWL and typical dogs received the same training.
• No Population-level Bias: While the study found individual consistency in tilt direction, the small sample size of GWL dogs (all of which were Border collies) limited the ability to assess a broader population bias in head-tilting or lateralized brain activity. The results cannot yet be generalized to all dogs or breeds.

Breed Considerations:

• Border Collies: All GWL dogs in this study were Border collies, but the majority of typical dogs (who did not frequently tilt their heads) were also from this breed. Thus, head-tilting behavior should not be attributed to the breed but rather to the dogs’ ability to learn object names.

Future Research:

The study suggests further research combining behavioral and neuroimaging methods with larger and more diverse samples to explore the neural mechanisms behind head-tilting and its relationship to language processing in dogs.

Cool, eh?

Cheers,

Laurie