What Does That Head Tilt Mean? Brain Lateralization and Sex Differences in the Processing of Familiar Human Speech by Domestic Dogs.

ABSTRACT: Does the head tilt observed in many domesticated dogs index lateralized language processing? To answer this question, the present study evaluated household dogs responding to four conditions in which owners provided an increasing number of communicative cues. These cues ranged from no communicative/affective cues to rich affective cues coupled with dog-directed speech. Dogs' facial responses were first coded manually using the Dog Facial Action Coding System (DogFACS), followed by an in-depth investigation of head tilt behavior, in which AI-based automated analysis of head tilt and audio analysis of acoustic features extracted from communicative cues were implemented. In a sample of 103 dogs representing seven breed groups and mixed-breed dogs, we found significant differences in the numbe

SUBMITTER: Buckley C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12609352 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature