Babies can understand a dog's bark

PROVO, Utah, July 21 (UPI) -- Infants 6 months old can detect the meaning of a dog's bark, U.S. researchers said.

Lead author Ross Flom, a Brigham Young University psychology professor, and students Dan Hyde and Heather Whipple Stephenson said babies recognize and respond to the tone of what's going on around them.

In the experiment, the babies first saw two different pictures of the same dog -- one in an aggressive posture and the other in a friendly stance. Then the researchers played, in random order, sound clips of a friendly and an aggressive dog bark.

"They only had one trial because we didn't want them to learn it on the fly and figure it out," Flom said in a statement.

When the recordings of the dogs were played, the babies spent most of their time staring at the appropriate picture. Older babies usually made the connection instantly with their very first glance, the researchers said.

The findings are published in the journal Developmental Psychology.