Do you understand what your dog is trying to tell you with his barking ? New research conducted at Brigham Young University in Utah, United States, reveals that any baby could decipher them without difficulty.
During the study, psychologist Ross Flom and his colleagues showed six-month-old children two different photos of the same dog, one in which he appeared very irritated and another with a friendly appearance. Later they played the barking sounds of an aggressive dog and a friendly dog in a random way. To the surprise of the researchers, the little ones always stared at the image corresponding to the bark moments after hearing it. ? Babies are able to identify a canine's mood just by hearing it bark ,? says Flom.
The experiment supports the idea that, long before they learn to speak , babies can recognize and respond to the pitch of human voices and animal sounds. " Emotions are one of the first things we learn to recognize in our social environment ?, explains Flom.? We chose dogs because they are highly communicative animals, both in their postures and in their barking," added the specialist.
