Scientists have proved that it's not just what you say that matters, but how you say it. Their proof wasn't the result of examining human beings, but dogs.
Researchers in Hungary have confirmed that dogs not only obey commands, but that they understand tone and content. They scanned the brains of dogs to find out what parts of their brains they use while listening to a trainer or owner. Their findings revealed that canines use the left hemisphere to process words, and the right hemisphere to process intonation. That's exactly like people's brains.
The study revealed that if a person's intonation and remarks to a dog were both positive, then what was registered in the dog's brain is praise. The dog's brain did not register the same effect if a trainer spoke to the animal in babble but an encouraging voice, or if a trainer's words meant something but he spoke in a neutral voice. This is pretty sophisticated processing.
The findings, published in the journal Science, underscore what mothers tell their children: It's not just what you say, but how you say it. Lead researcher Attila Andics, a neuroscientist at Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest, said that "(d)ogs' brains care about both what we say and how we say it. Praise can work as a reward only if both word meaning and intonation match."
Apparently most dogs are more nuanced and subtle listeners than many politicians and commentators.
Editorial on 09/20/2016