Dogs may be self-aware

Self-awareness 

Have you ever wondered what animals think about? A team of scientists explored this question by investigating whether dogs have self-awareness. Researchers from a university in Hungary set out to determine whether canines have a sense of self and of body awareness. Researcher Peter Pongracz explained why his team conducted the study. He said: "Self-awareness is a rather poorly investigated area of dog cognition." He added: "Body awareness is a mental capacity to organize someone's action by taking in consideration their own body exists." His test put dogs in situations that would make them aware of their body position. The study is published in the journal "Scientific Reports".

The scientists conducted tests on 54 dogs. The dogs had to respond to commands from their owners. Researchers attached a toy to a mat and asked the dog to give the toy to its owner. The dog had to understand it would be unable to take the toy to its owner unless it got off the mat first. Many of the dogs understood the issue and got off the mat to complete the task. The researchers said this showed a sense of body awareness. They wrote that body awareness is, "the ability to hold information about one's own body in mind, as an explicit object, in relation to other objects in the world". They said this is "one of the fundamental building blocks of self-representation" and that the dogs in the tests exhibited this.

Warm-ups

1. SELF-AWARENESS: Students walk around the class and talk to other students about self-awareness. Change partners often and share your findings.
2. CHAT: In pairs / groups, talk about these topics or words from the article. What will the article say about them? What can you say about these words and your life?
       wondered / scientists / question / dogs / self-awareness / body / cognition / journal /
       tests / commands / owners / mat / information / object / building blocks / mind
Have a chat about the topics you liked. Change topics and partners frequently.
3. DOG RESEARCH: Students A strongly believe research into dog self-awareness is important; Students B strongly believe it isn't. Change partners again and talk about your conversations.
4. ANIMALS: What do you you think these animals think about? What special skills do they have? Complete this table with your partner(s). Change partners often and share what you wrote.

	Thoughts	Skills
Dogs
Ants
Dolphins
Rabbits
Snakes
Eagles

5. THINK: Spend one minute writing down all of the different words you associate with the word "think". Share your words with your partner(s) and talk about them. Together, put the words into different categories.
6. PETS: Rank these with your partner. Put the best pets at the top. Change partners often and share your rankings.

• Dog
• Goldfish
• Rabbit
• Tarantula
• Cat
• Parrot
• Horse
• Tortoise

 

Vocabulary

    Paragraph 1

1.	wondered	a.	Inquired into or discussed a subject or issue in detail.
2.	explored	b.	Find out exactly, usually as a result of research or calculation.
3.	canine	c.	Live: be on Earth.
4.	determine	d.	Related to or resembling a dog or dogs?
5.	cognition	e.	The ability or power to do, experience, or understand something.
6.	capacity	f.	Desired or was curious to know something.
7.	exists	g.	The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding.

    Paragraph 2

8.	respond	h.	An order to do something.
9.	command	i.	An important topic or problem for debate or discussion.
10.	issue	j.	Showed.
11.	sense	k.	Stated clearly and in detail, leaving no room for confusion or doubt.
12.	explicit	l.	A function of the mind and body by which someone or knows and understands an external stimulus.
13.	fundamental	m.	Say or do something in reply.
14.	exhibited	n.	Basic.

 

Before reading / listening

1. TRUE / FALSE: Read the headline. Guess if 1-8 below are true (T) or false (F).

1. A team of scientists investigated self-analysis in dogs.     T / F
2. Researchers looked into whether canines had a sense of body awareness.  T / F
3. A researcher said there is much research into dog cognition.     T / F
4. The study is published in a journal called "Canine Reports".     T / F
5. The research looked at self-awareness in over 540 dogs.     T / F
6. Dogs had to get off a mat and take a toy to their owner.     T / F
7. A researcher said dogs understand they are an explicit object.     T / F
8. Researchers said dogs exhibited self-representation in tests.     T / F

2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the article.

1. wondered
2. explored
3. canines
4. cognition
5. aware
6. commands
7. attached
8. sense
9. fundamental
10. exhibited

1. conscious
2. thought
3. feeling
4. basic
5. reflected on
6. fixed
7. dogs
8. orders
9. showed
10. investigated

3. PHRASE MATCH: (Sometimes more than one choice is possible.)

1. scientists explored
2. canines
3. a rather poorly
4. mental
5. The study is published in the
6. The scientists conducted
7. respond to commands
8. the ability to
9. in relation
10. dogs in the tests

1. exhibited this
2. capacity
3. tests on 54 dogs
4. hold information
5. have a sense
6. to other objects
7. journal "Scientific Reports"
8. from their owners
9. investigated area
10. this question

Gap fill

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

exists
poorly
explored
sense
capacity
wondered
journal
set

Have you ever (1) _____________________ what animals think about? A team of scientists (2) _____________________ this question by investigating whether dogs have self-awareness. Researchers from a university in Hungary (3) _____________________ out to determine whether canines have a (4) _____________________ of self and of body awareness. Researcher Peter Pongracz explained why his team conducted the study. He said: "Self-awareness is a rather (5) _____________________ investigated area of dog cognition." He added: "Body awareness is a mental (6) _____________________ to organize someone's action by taking in consideration their own body (7) _____________________." His test put dogs in situations that would make them aware of their body position. The study is published in the (8) _____________________ "Scientific Reports".

Put these words into the spaces in the paragraph below.

unless
ability
respond
blocks
owner
task
object
unable

The scientists conducted tests on 54 dogs. The dogs had to (9) _____________________ to commands from their owners. Researchers attached a toy to a mat and asked the dog to give the toy to its (10) _____________________. The dog had to understand it would be (11) _____________________ to take the toy to its owner (12) _____________________ it got off the mat first. Many of the dogs understood the issue and got off the mat to complete the (13) _____________________. The researchers said this showed a sense of body awareness. They wrote that body awareness is, "the (14) _____________________ to hold information about one's own body in mind, as an explicit (15) _____________________, in relation to other objects in the world". They said this is "one of the fundamental building (16) _____________________ of self-representation" and that the dogs in the tests exhibited this.

Comprehension questions

1. Where is the university that conducted this research?
2. What did a researcher say was poorly investigated?
3. What kind of capacity did a researcher say body awareness is?
4. What did the tests try to make dogs aware of?
5. What is the name of the journal the study is published in?
6. How many dogs did scientists have in the tests?
7. What did dogs have to five to their owners?
8. What did many of the dogs understand?
9. What thing did a researcher say self-awareness allowed us to hold?
10. What kinds of blocks were mentioned in the article?

Role play

Role  A – Dogs You think dogs are the best pets. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their pets. Also, tell the others which is the least fun of these (and why): goldfish, parrots or tortoises.

Role  B – Goldfish You think goldfish are the best pets. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their pets. Also, tell the others which is the least fun of these (and why): dogs, parrots or tortoises.

Role  C – Parrots You think parrots are the best pets. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their pets. Also, tell the others which is the least fun of these (and why): goldfish, dogs or tortoises.

Role  D – Tortoises You think tortoises are the best pets. Tell the others three reasons why. Tell them what is wrong with their pets. Also, tell the others which is the least fun of these (and why): goldfish, parrots or dogs.

Discussion - Self-awareness

1. What images are in your mind when you hear the word 'dog'?
2. What do you think of dogs?
3. What do you know about self-awareness?
4. How self-aware are you?
5. How self-aware do you think dogs are?
6. How intelligent are dogs?
7. What do you think dogs think about?
8. What do you think dogs worry about?
9. What questions would you like to ask a dog?

11. What do you think of when you hear the word 'self'?
12. What do you think about what you read?
13. What do you think of the expression: 'A dog is man's best friend'?
14. Is a dog or a cat a better pet?
15. How can we make dogs more self-aware?
16. How important is this research?
17. How would life change if you were more self-aware?
18. What questions might dogs like to ask humans?
19. What questions would you like to ask the researchers?

Language — Cloze (Gap-fill)

Have you ever (1) ____ what animals think about? A team of scientists explored this question by investigating whether dogs have self-awareness. Researchers from a university in Hungary set (2) ____ to determine whether canines have a sense of (3) ____ and of body awareness. Researcher Peter Pongracz explained why his team conducted the study. He said: "Self-awareness is a (4) ____ poorly investigated area of dog cognition." He added: "Body awareness is a mental capacity to organize someone's action (5) ____ taking in consideration their own body exists." His test put dogs in situations that would (6) ____ them aware of their body position. The study is published in the journal "Scientific Reports".

The scientists conducted tests (7) ____ 54 dogs. The dogs had to respond to commands from their owners. Researchers (8) ____ a toy to a mat and asked the dog to give the ball to its owner. The dog had to understand it would be unable to take the toy to its owner (9) ____ it got off the mat first. Many of the dogs understood the issue and got off the mat to complete the task. The researchers said this showed a sense of body awareness. They wrote that body awareness is, "the ability to (10) ____ information about one's own body in mind, as an explicit object, in relation (11) ____ other objects in the world". They said this is "one of the fundamental building blocks of self-representation" and that the dogs in the tests (12) ____ this.

Which of these words go in the above text?

1. (a)     wandering     (b)     wandered     (c)     wondered     (d)     wonder    
2. (a)     out     (b)     in     (c)     down     (d)     by    
3. (a)     self     (b)     other     (c)     service     (d)     selfish    
4. (a)     rather     (b)     minor     (c)     major     (d)     prefer    
5. (a)     to     (b)     of     (c)     at     (d)     by    
6. (a)     form     (b)     be     (c)     do     (d)     make    
7. (a)     on     (b)     at     (c)     of     (d)     in    
8. (a)     arched     (b)     attached     (c)     attacked     (d)     attaché    
9. (a)     useless     (b)     nonetheless     (c)     unless     (d)     nevertheless    
10. (a)     fold     (b)     bold     (c)     mold     (d)     hold    
11. (a)     by     (b)     at     (c)     of     (d)     to    
12. (a)     inhibited     (b)     exhibited     (c)     imbibed     (d)     exited

Spelling

Paragraph 1

1. etimreedn whether canines have a sense
2. a rather poorly iseatevnigdt area
3. mental caiptyca
4. by taking in sinrtdioocane their own
5. His test put dogs in utnasiiots
6. The study is published in the jlnruao

Paragraph 2

7. respond to cmodmsan
8. Researchers tatdchea a toy to a mat
9. the dogs understood the ssuie
10. as an txeipilc object
11. one of the ntnmafdaeul building blocks
12. dogs in the tests xdieiehbt this

 

Put the words in the right order

1. scientists   of   A   explored   this   question   .   team
2. whether   sense   of   self   .   canines   have   a   Determine
3. the   why   team   study   .   explained   his   conducted   He
4. of   A   poorly   area   dog   rather   cognition   .   investigated
5. in   Put   them   situations   aware   .   dogs   make   that
6. respond   to   commands   from   Dogs   owners   .   had   to
7. said   showed   awareness   .   of   sense   a   Researchers   this
8. one's   Hold   body   own   mind   .   about   in   information
9. objects   in   other   world   .   to   the   In   relation
10. blocks  building  One   fundamental   self-representation   .   of   of   the

 

Free writing

Write about self-awareness for 10 minutes. Comment on your partner’s paper.

 

Academic writing

A dog is a "man's best friend". Discuss.