A new study examined dogs that had been “trained” with soundboard buttons, and the findings are fascinating.
As Parade magazine reports, the study published in PLOS ONE on August 28 and conducted by scientists at the University of California at San Diego, is the first in an expected series aimed at ultimately answering the larger question of whether the dogs themselves can learn to communicate their desires by tapping buttons, and highlights some interesting findings on “interspecies communication” between people and dogs.
The research, followed by Federico Rossano, Associate Professor in the Department of Cognitive Science at UC San Diego, and led by Amalia Bastos, a former postdoc at UC San Diego, sought to learn more about how people and dogs can communicate, and it turns out soundboard buttons might be that bridge.
The study found that dogs trained with soundboard buttons programmed to say a word can understand those specific words and reply with context using the buttons. For example, the study noted that dogs who have been trained to use soundboards can appropriately respond to words like “outside” or “play.”
“Given that dogs responded equivalently to their owners’ button presses and an unfamiliar person’s button presses, our results also demonstrate that dogs attend to and respond to the buttons or words themselves, rather than behaving solely based on unrelated unintentional cues provided by their owners,” the study explained.
This finding is really cool because it strengthens the case for dogs being able to understand the concepts of communication and respond without relying on their parents’ body language or cues. “Our findings are important because they show that words matter to dogs, and that they respond to the words themselves, not just to associated cues,” Rossano told Earth.com.
“Future studies will explore how dogs actively use these buttons, including the meaning and systematicity behind sequences of button presses.”
What Are Soundboard Buttons for Dogs?
FluentPet is one of the brands of soundboards for dogs, and the way they work is pretty interesting. “Through pressing buttons of pre-programmed speech sounds or words, animal learners can share their requests, thoughts, and feelings,” the company explains. “With time and patience, learners have been incredibly successful.”
The buttons are marketed as a “form of assistive language technology” to help bridge the communication gap between you and your dog. The goal is to improve communication so that you can better understand your dog and your dog can better understand you. “Button communication opens up new avenues of conversation and empathy, whether your learner wants to alert you to their needs or simply show you their love,” FluentPet writes.
Most soundboards allow you to choose your own words, ones that you and your dog might use more often than others. These are single words like “dinner,” “walk,” play,” or “outside,” just to name a few. From there, you would press the button, which would play the word you have selected for that board button in context. The idea is that the more you do that, the more your dog will understand and hopefully start to use the buttons, too.
This latest study is really fascinating because it’s exciting to think we can communicate with our dogs in a way that both of us understand.
—
Photo Credit: Kristina Holovach / Shutterstock.com