Babies understand dogs barking

A study conducted at Brigham Young University in Utah, United States, holds that infants are able to interpret the barks of dogs better than adults

Babies around six months old are able to identify the mood of a dog barking so just listen, says Ross Flom, director research. During the study, the experts showed several different babies two photographs of the same dog, one that had an aggressive appearance and the other with friendly aspect. Subsequently reproduced sounds of the barking of a dog that was aggressive and other random friendly. To the researchers' surprise, the babies looked fixedly at the image moments after listening bark.


"Emotions are one of the first things that babies recognize their social environment. Chose the dogs because these animals are highly communicative, both in their expressions and in their barks," said the specialist. The experiment supports the idea that before they can talk, babies can understand and respond to the tone of the voices of men and sounds of animals.