研究证实--八周大的幼犬已经可以理解人说话(下)

In one experiment, a researcher would hide food under one of two cups—and then call to the puppy and point toward the cup that held the treat.

在一项实验中，一位研究人员将食物藏在两个杯子中的一个的下面，然后呼唤幼犬，指向装食物的杯子。

And we found puppies were able to use this social cue effectively, choosing the correct location significantly above what you would expect by mere chance.

我们发现，幼犬能够有效地使用这种社交线索，能明显地选出正确的位置，而非你预计的仅仅靠运气选出。

In another experiment, a researcher would talk to a puppy.

在另一项实验中，一位研究人员会和一只幼犬说话。

“Hi pup. Are you a good puppy? Yes, you are! What a good puppy!”

“嗨, 小狗。你是一只乖狗狗吗? 是的, 你是! 多好的小狗啊!”

This goes on for about 30 seconds.

这个过程持续大约30秒。

“Are you the best puppy? Yes, you are! Of course you are. That’s a good puppy!”

“你是最棒的小狗吗？是的，你是！你当然是了。你是一只好狗狗！”

During this interaction, the researcher would record how much time the pup spent gazing at her with joyous anticipation and then compare it with how the other puppies behaved.

在这个互动过程中，研究人员会记录下这只小狗带着喜悦的期待注视她的时间，然后将其与其他小狗的行为进行比较。

And what they found?

他们发现了什么？

First, we learned something important about the developmental basis of these skills.

首先，我们了解了一些关于这些技能发展基础的重要信息。

In the largest sample to date, we show that puppies will reciprocate human social gaze and can successfully use information given by a human in a social context from a very young age.

在迄今为止收集的最大的样本中，我们发现，小狗会回应人类的社交注视，并且它们从很小的时候就能成功地在社会环境中使用人类提供的信息。

And they do so from the very first run.

它们从一开始就这样做。

And so it seems likely that puppies really are starting the task with the communicative ability necessary to be successful rather than just quickly learning an association over the course of the task.

因此，小狗似乎真的是带着成功所必需的沟通能力开始执行任务的，而不仅仅是在执行任务过程中快速学习联想技能。

In addition, the researchers found that these social skills have a strong genetic component.

此外，研究人员发现，这些社交技能具有很强的遗传成分。

So while many puppies breeze through, others just cannot figure it out.

当许多小狗轻而易举地通过测试时，其他小狗就是弄不明白是怎么回事。

And what’s really fascinating is that we found a lot of this variation can be explained by the genetics of the dogs.

真正吸引人的是，我们发现许多变异都可以用狗的基因来解释。

Around 40 percent of that variation is heritable.

大约40%的变异是可遗传的。

These are actually quite high numbers, much the same as estimates of the heritability of intelligence in our own species.

这实际上是相当高的数字，与我们人类智力遗传的估计非常相似。

So all these findings suggest that dogs are biologically prepared for communication with humans.

所有这些发现都表明，狗在生理上已经做好了与人类交流的准备。

Next Bray says she’ll be searching for the genes that are linked to canine social intelligence.

布雷表示，接下来她将寻找与犬类社交智力相关的基因。

That could help breeders select for better behaved pups.

这可以帮助饲养员选择表现更好的幼犬。

And it’ll give Bray and her colleagues something to look forward to.

这也会让布雷和她的同事们有所期待。

Are these experiments fun?

这些实验有趣吗?

You’re coming back tomorrow to play with me! We’ll play more pup games.

你明天要回来和我一起玩! 我们会玩更多的小狗游戏。

For Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Karen Hopkin.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学，我是凯伦·霍普金。

We’re gonna have so much fun! I can’t wait to play with you!

我们会玩得很开心的! 我等不及要和你一起玩了!