Do Dogs understand human emotive content? If so, can this shed any light onto the origin/role of "motherese" in midern humans?

TEST 1

In this 2 part study, I was interested in both how people talk to and communicate with their dogs, and how dogs respond.

15 Human subjects and their dogs were tested across two different experiments.

STUDY 1

In the first study, we were interested in how people communicate with their dogs in 5 different situations:

1) getting a dog’s attention

2) encouraging a dog to do something the person wanted the dog to do

3) prohibiting the dog from doing something the person didn’t want the dog to do

4) approving of something the dog has done well

5) and calming the dog down when the dog is excited.

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Specifically, these are what the volunteers were told:

Attention, condition 1

In this situation, you will try to draw your dog’s attention to you using your voice. I am going to walk away from you with the dog. While I am walking, please try to get your dog’s attention. Ready?

Encouraging, condition 2

In this situation, you will try to encourage your dog to do something you want him / her to do. I will put a treat on the floor away from but between your dog and you. I will then let the dog go. When the dog is released, please use your voice to try to encourage your dog to go and eat the treat.

Prohibitive, condition 3

In this situation, you will try to prohibit your dog from doing something you do not want him / her to do. I will put a treat on the floor away from but between your dog and you. I will then let the dog go. When the dog is released, please use your voice to try and prohibit your dog from eating the treat.

Approval, condition 4

In this situation, you will approve of your dog’s good behavior. I will let go of the dog, and you will tell the dog to sit. If the dog sits, then convey approval to the dog using your voice. If the dog doesn’t sit, try it again.

Soothing / Calming, condition 5

In this situation, you will calm your dog down with your voice. When I let the dog go, please sit down with your dog and try to get the dog to relax and calm down using your voice.

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So, I recorded people talking to their dog, in 2 different categories, controls and experimental trials. 4 controls were always done first (encouraging/prohibitive being lumped together) and consisted of the person not talking to their dog, and experimental trials always followed. 10 experimental trials were conducted, one at a time and in the above five different situations.

STUDY 2

In the second study, I explored the same question of how people communicate with their dogs in 2 different situations:

1) encouraging a dog to do something the person wanted the dog to do

2) prohibiting the dog from doing something the person didn’t want the dog to do

I recorded people talking to their dog across 10 experimental trials, conducted one at a time and in the above two different situations.

See Fig. 1 below for findings.