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Study Aims To Read Dogs' Thoughts

Posted by samzenpus on from the squirrel-ball-cat! dept.

jjp9999 writes "A new study at Emory University is trying to figure out what dogs think. The study uses functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to scan the dogs' brains while they're shown different stimuli. Results from the first study will be published by the Public Library of Science, where the dogs were shown hand signals from their owners. 'We hope this opens up a whole new door for understanding canine cognition and inter-species communication. We want to understand the dog-human relationship, from the dog's perspective,' said Gregory Berns, director of the Emory Center for Neuropolicy and lead researcher of the dog project."

9 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Hello? by dolo724 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yes, this is Dog.

    --
    But you just gotta have another sigarette
    1. Re:Hello? by HornWumpus · · Score: 4, Funny

      Cats thoughts: Kill the human? No, need food, human bad to eat. Kill the human? No, need catnip. Kill the human? No, need water. DOG. RUN.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
    2. Re:Hello? by xevioso · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah, I used to think my cats jump up on the bed in the morning to see if I am awake so they can say hello and greet me as I start the new day. Actually I have figured out they are checking to see if I am alive or not so the feasting on my still-warm corpse can begin.

  2. Old news. by AragornSonOfArathorn · · Score: 4, Funny

    Gary Larson figured this out ages ago.

    --
    sudo eat my shorts
    1. Re:Old news. by Dogtanian · · Score: 4, Funny

      You bet he did!

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  3. Profit by Frankie70 · · Score: 4, Funny

    1) Read dog's thoughts.
    2) .......
    3) Profit.

    What's the missing 2nd step here?
    Only a dog would know. If only we could read their thoughts. Wait.....

  4. Canine Decoder by goombah99 · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Canine speech decoder already exists:
    http://d1syadvoyajtpr.cloudfront.net/534fa0b9aacaf866a8eb6c6f51fa1388_500.jpg

    --
    Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
  5. I CAN HAZ TRANSLATION? by Guppy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cats thoughts

    Good attempt but your dialect and accent are off. As a long-time scholar of Cat, let me translate for you:

    I CAN KILLZ HOOMAN? No, need füdz, hoomanz is made of bad füdz.
    I CAN KILLZ HOOMAN? No, give catnipz plz. Kthnxbai.
    I CAN KILLZ HOOMAN? No, give waterz plz. Kthnxbai.
    DOG. RUN.

  6. They already talk by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Funny

    But dogs can already talk. I swear, here's an absolutely true conversion I had with my dog:

    Me: "Sparky, what's on top of a house?"

    Dog: "Roof!"

    Me: "Sparky, how does sand-paper feel?"

    Dog: "Rough!"

    Me: "Sparky, who is the best baseball player of all time?"

    Dog: "Ruthf!"

    --
    Table-ized A.I.