Neural mechanisms for lexical processing in dogs

Andics, Attila and Gábor, Anna and Gácsi, Márta and Faragó, Tamás and Szabó, Dóra and Miklósi, Ádám (2016) Neural mechanisms for lexical processing in dogs. SCIENCE, 353 (6303). pp. 1030-1032. ISSN 0036-8075

	Text (Article) 1030.full.pdf - Published Version Restricted to Registered users only Download (479kB) | Request a copy
	Text (Supplementary Materials) aaf3777_Andics_SM_u.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (490kB) | Request a copy

Abstract

During speech processing, human listeners can separately analyze lexical and intonational cues to arrive at a unified representation of communicative content. The evolution of this capacity can be best investigated by comparative studies. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we explored whether and how dog brains segregate and integrate lexical and intonational information. We found a left-hemisphere bias for processing meaningful words, independently of intonation; a right auditory brain region for distinguishing intonationally marked and unmarked words; and increased activity in primary reward regions only when both lexical and intonational information were consistent with praise. Neuralmechanisms to separately analyze and integrate word meaning and intonation in dogs suggest that this capacity can evolve in the absence of language.

Actions (login required)

Edit Item