Hungarian study finds dogs have referential understanding of words, challenging the belief they only respond to commands.

A new study in Hungary suggests that dogs have a referential understanding of words, a capability previously unproven in canine cognition. By playing audio clips of their owners saying the name of a toy and then presenting the dog with either the named object or a different one, scientists observed the dogs' brain reactions, challenging the long-held belief that dogs merely respond to commands without forming mental representations of objects.