It does not miss: a dog or a baby appears and our tone of voice changes automatically. Suddenly, we seek to reduce the physical size by a much softer, melodious and, why not say it, high-pitched sound, as if to put ourselves on their level.
This happens due to a strange and at the same time popular tendency to consider that, in this way, beings who do not handle the same vocal codes as us will be able to understand us.
The truth is, it seems to work, because we often see how they react, even if they do it without words. The trick lies not only in the sound, but also in everything that accompanies it: exaggerated facial expressions, smiles and gestures which ultimately reinforce the meaning of the verbal language. What if we could do better? Is there a way to communicate with animals or babies that would have an even more reciprocal effect on them? In other words: could your dog ever understand you?
A recent study published in the journal Communications Biology takes a new look at the world of communication in this regard, allowing us to better understand how our four-legged friends, in particular, react to human speech, and it turns out that we can actually make them understand us better – just know some new facts that have now been discovered.
A “child’s language”
This was discovered by a group of researchers from the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, who found that the brains of dogs “light up” more when they are confronted with a tone of specific voice.
Previous research has suggested that using such “baby talk” with dogs when they are still puppies helps improve their attention span. Later, researchers at the University of York found that this effect could also apply to adult dogs.
In the field of relationship and communication sciences in general, childish language is considered an effective strategy to promote language development in children, as it exposes them to the linguistic patterns established by their own species and encourages them to imitate their sounds and words. At the same time, it strengthens the bond between adults and children, starting with mothers and children.
However, this inertia in doing the same with dogs and other animals seems to come from the same logic, to the point that it is even a practice among other adult animals with regard to their offspring. . Thus, it was observed that adult bottlenose dolphins change their tune when they speak to their little ones. And we now know that dogs are also sensitive to this change.
For the authors, this sensitivity is probably due to the process of domestication and interactions between our two species over the last millennia. That is why, with these results, they want to give a more precise idea of this form of language. With all the positive effects it has, the goal is to encourage and normalize it. You will no longer have to feel embarrassed to address your dog in a higher pitched voice in the middle of the park.
I’m a big fan of short stories about people – I’m a pro at tech and smartphones, serial literature, and writing in my spare time.