Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37596318›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2023

Dog brains are sensitive to infant- and dog-directed prosody.

Anna Gergely, Anna Gábor, Márta Gácsi, Anna Kis, Kálmán Czeibert, József Topál, Attila Andics

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
9.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. The Brain of the African Wild Dog. VI. The Motor System.The Journal of comparative neurology · 2025
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  5. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Anna Gergely *Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, ELTE-ELKH NAP Comparative Ethology research group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. gergely.anna@ttk.hu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5339-7852
Anna Gábor *Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9832-776X
Márta GácsiDepartment of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Anna KisInstitute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, ELTE-ELKH NAP Comparative Ethology research group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Kálmán CzeibertDepartment of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
József TopálInstitute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, ELTE-ELKH NAP Comparative Ethology research group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
Attila AndicsDepartment of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
Eötvös Loránd University · HU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

When addressing preverbal infants and family dogs, people tend to use specific speech styles. While recent studies suggest acoustic parallels between infant- and dog-directed speech, it is unclear whether dogs, like infants, show enhanced neural sensitivity to prosodic aspects of speech directed to them. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging on awake unrestrained dogs we identify two non-primary auditory regions, one that involve the ventralmost part of the left caudal Sylvian gyrus and the temporal pole and the other at the transition of the left caudal and rostral Sylvian gyrus, which respond more to naturalistic dog- and/or infant-directed speech than to adult-directed speech, especially when speak by female speakers. This activity increase is driven by sensitivity to fundamental frequency mean and variance resulting in positive modulatory effects of these acoustic parameters in both aforementioned non-primary auditory regions. These findings show that the dog auditory cortex, similarly to that of human infants, is sensitive to the acoustic properties of speech directed to non-speaking partners. This increased neuronal responsiveness to exaggerated prosody may be one reason why dogs outperform other animals when processing speech.

Indexed as

AcousticsAuditory CortexAdultAnimalsBrainDogsFemaleHumansInfantSpeechTemporal Lobe

Identifiers

PMID37596318
PMCPMC10439206
OpenAlexW4385985931

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.