A recent study indicates that dogs trained with soundboard buttons can truly understand particular words and respond appropriately in context.
If you’ve come across viral videos of dogs “talking” using soundboard buttons, you’re not by yourself. These buttons have recently gained immense popularity in the pet community, leading to remarkable and sometimes astounding displays shared on platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. But does this mean that dogs are genuinely communicating, or are they simply reacting to their owners’ prompts?
A new study published in PLOS ONE, led by researchers from the University of California San Diego and other institutions, demonstrates that dogs trained to use soundboard buttons can comprehend specific words and react suitably. The research, spearheaded by Federico Rossano, an associate professor in UC San Diego’s Cognitive Science Department and director of the Comparative Cognition Lab, marks the first empirical investigation stemming from the world’s largest ongoing project focused on button-trained pets.
Rossano, who also appears in the Netflix documentary “Inside the Mind of a Dog,” notes that this research represents only one phase of his lab’s broader exploration into interspecies communication.
Key findings: The study discovered that dogs trained to utilize soundboards responded correctly to words like “play” and “outside,” regardless of whether these words were spoken by their owners, triggered by pressing a button, or pressed by the owner or an unrelated person. This finding implies that dogs are not simply interpreting their owners’ body language or presence but are actually processing the words themselves.
“This study aims to address public doubts regarding whether dogs genuinely understand what the buttons signify,” remarked Rossano. “Our results are significant because they demonstrate that words are meaningful to dogs, and that they respond to the language itself, not solely to corresponding cues.”
The research included two complementary experiments. The first involved researchers visiting 30 dog owners across the country to directly assess their dogs’ responses to soundboard buttons. The second experiment engaged citizen science, where 29 dog owners carried out the trials at home with remote support from researchers.
The study’s methodology was meticulously pre-registered, ensuring clarity and the possibility of replicating results. This pre-registration, available online, outlines the hypotheses, data collection strategies, key variables, and analytical frameworks set prior to data gathering. According to Rossano, this approach enhances accountability, minimizes the chance of selective reporting of results, and aligns with a rising movement in cognitive science and psychology aimed at boosting scientific integrity and reducing biases or misconduct.
Rossano commented, “We’re only beginning to uncover insights in this study. Future research will examine how dogs use these buttons actively, including the meaning and order behind their button sequences. Our work highlights the significance of observing animals in their natural settings to gain a more authentic understanding of their capabilities.”
This study is part of a larger, ongoing research initiative involving thousands of participants globally. Future investigations will focus on how dogs independently utilize soundboard buttons, further revealing the intricacies of dog cognition and communication.
The lead author of this paper is Amalia Bastos, a former postdoc at UC San Diego, now working at Johns Hopkins University. The research also had collaborators from UC Davis, University of St. Andrews, Universitat de València, and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna. Data for this study was collected in 2022 during the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with participants graciously allowing researchers into their homes, exemplifying the increasing public interest and involvement in citizen science.
This research received partial support through a UC San Diego Academic Senate Research Grant (RG103503).
