Dogs can understand numbers – report

PanARMENIAN.Net - A new scientific study has demonstrated some really interesting things about mammals’ relationship with numbers. More specifically, it shows that dogs, like humans and some primates, have neurological sensitivity to numbers.

It isn’t so much that dogs can count (at least using our language or number systems.) Basically, the evidence revealed that dogs innately understand quantities.

For the study, neuroscientists at Emory University in Atlanta gathered 11 dogs of varying breeds to participate. The dogs ranged from Pit Bull mixes to Border Collies. These dogs all had their brains scanned in an MRI machine. The researchers were looking for a specific region of the brain with sensitivity to numbers.

In the video below, you can see the dogs adorably and willingly participate in their MRIs. They just sort of trot right inside and place their little chins on a block. Then these good pups stay totally motionless for the scan.

from inside the scanner the dogs were looking at a screen in front of them. On the screen, a series of dots appeared, changing every 300 milliseconds. Each time there would be a different amount of dots.

In theory, the dogs’ brains would show more activity in a dedicated region for representing quantities when the number of dots was very different. For example, a transition from three little dots to ten large dots. And that theory was proven! Neural activity in the brains increased when the ratios were greater.

Eight of the eleven dogs passed the “test.” Scientists speculate the difference in the dogs’ breeds is responsible for that margin.