They Say: Little Doctor Doolittles – Babies Can Understand A Dog’s Bark

Does your baby understand the language of dogs? A human baby may not understand English yet but new studies say they may know how to find meaning in a dog’s bark. And this doesn’t just go for babies sharing a home with a pet pooch. The study claims that little ones, with little or no previous exposure to canines, can interpret the meaning of various dog vocalisations.

According to Science Daily infants as young as six months can make a match of the sounds of a mean snarl or a nice little yap to photos of dogs displaying those emotions.

“Emotion is one of the first things babies pick up on in their social world,” said the lead author of the study – BYU psychology professor Ross Flom,. He continued to say, “we chose dogs because they are highly communicative creatures both in their posture and the nature of their bark.”

Why would they perform this study in the first place? Experiments like this one help researchers discover how it is that babies learn so rapidly and how they understand the tone of things around them.

Does your kid speak dog?

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