1 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:09,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works. Hey, brain Stuff, 2 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 1: Christian Seger. Here, our question for the day is why 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: do dogs tilt their heads? And I've got to warn 4 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:18,439 Speaker 1: you this is one of those questions where the answer 5 00:00:18,560 --> 00:00:22,959 Speaker 1: is no, one really knows for sure. That's right. Humanity 6 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:26,119 Speaker 1: has created a telescope that can observe stuff thirteen point 7 00:00:26,160 --> 00:00:29,160 Speaker 1: five billion light years away and nail polish that dries 8 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: in under sixty seconds. But we don't know exactly why 9 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,199 Speaker 1: dogs do this cute thing, but we do have some 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: educated guesses. They tend to fall into three categories, site, sound, 11 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,959 Speaker 1: and psychology. Site is the easy one. Imagine that you 12 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: have a snout at certain angles, it would block certain 13 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:49,200 Speaker 1: parts of your vision. We know that pooches can watch 14 00:00:49,280 --> 00:00:53,440 Speaker 1: human faces and respond appropriately to expressions of emotion like 15 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,320 Speaker 1: happiness or anger. Research published over the past couple of 16 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: years has found that dogs systematically look at our entire faces, 17 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,280 Speaker 1: especially our eyes, to get a handle on our emotions. 18 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: They also remember our expressions and associate happy faces with 19 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:14,280 Speaker 1: positive outcomes and angry faces with negative outcomes. So it 20 00:01:14,400 --> 00:01:17,240 Speaker 1: makes sense that a dog would tilt its head to 21 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: better see your face, and therefore determine whether treats are 22 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: on the way, but not all dogs have long muzzles. 23 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,800 Speaker 1: If site were the only factor in head tilting breakas 24 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:32,440 Speaker 1: aphelic babies like pugs, for instance, would never tilt over. 25 00:01:32,480 --> 00:01:36,880 Speaker 1: On Psychology Today, dog behavior writer Dr Stanley Coren shared 26 00:01:36,920 --> 00:01:40,520 Speaker 1: the results of his informal survey of five eighty two 27 00:01:40,560 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: dog owners. Of those, seventy one of people who owned 28 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: longer faced pops said their dogs frequently tilt their heads 29 00:01:48,560 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: when spoken to. In comparison, just fifty of people who 30 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: owned short snouted dogs reported frequent head tilting. The difference 31 00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 1: is statistically significant, but it indicates that something else is 32 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: contributing to this behavior. Let's look at sound. For instance, 33 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:08,760 Speaker 1: dogs hearing tends to be at least twice as sensitive 34 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,720 Speaker 1: as humans. We hear sound waves that occur in the 35 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: range of about twenty to twenty vibrations per second, or hurts. Dogs, 36 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: depending on their breed and age, can hear sounds of 37 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: about forty to sixty five thousand hurts, meaning they can 38 00:02:24,280 --> 00:02:29,040 Speaker 1: detect sounds of much higher pitches from much further away. 39 00:02:29,240 --> 00:02:33,160 Speaker 1: Dogs cope with all that audio information partially by moving 40 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:38,280 Speaker 1: around their pina Their fuzzy, scritchable outer ears, So some canines, 41 00:02:38,400 --> 00:02:41,799 Speaker 1: especially those with floppy pina covering the front of their 42 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,840 Speaker 1: ear openings, may tilt their heads to move their pinna 43 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:48,920 Speaker 1: and hone in on the sounds you're making. Furthermore, dogs 44 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,200 Speaker 1: have muscles that let them better process sounds in their 45 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: middle ears. Those muscles just happen to be governed by 46 00:02:55,800 --> 00:02:59,840 Speaker 1: part of the brain stem called the nucleus ambiguous, which 47 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:05,640 Speaker 1: just happens to also govern facial expressions, gaze vocalizations, and 48 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,639 Speaker 1: head movements. This could mean that dogs reflexively tilt their 49 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:13,119 Speaker 1: heads sort of as a byproduct of trying to concentrate 50 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,720 Speaker 1: on a sound, or, as Stephen R. Lindsay says in 51 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: his Handbook of Applied Dog Behavior and Training, that brain 52 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:26,040 Speaker 1: stem connection could encourage head tilting as a form of communication, 53 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:30,120 Speaker 1: meaning that my dog Winchester, that's his name. For instance, 54 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 1: when he tilts his head, he's trying to say that 55 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: he's paying attention. Lindsay notes that in his twenty five 56 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: years of training experience, socially apprehensive dogs don't tilt as much, 57 00:03:42,080 --> 00:03:45,720 Speaker 1: But as with all studies into animal behavior, this psychology 58 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,559 Speaker 1: factor is the most difficult to figure out. Some researchers 59 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 1: suggest that dogs tilt their heads so often because they 60 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:58,280 Speaker 1: know we find it so stinking adorable, specifically because we 61 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:02,120 Speaker 1: respond with praise or other positive feedback when they tilt. 62 00:04:02,600 --> 00:04:06,520 Speaker 1: Studies have shown that dogs use social cues with humans 63 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:10,080 Speaker 1: that they don't use with each other, like direct eye contact, 64 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:14,840 Speaker 1: to elicit positive responses. Maybe all that head tilting is 65 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:23,640 Speaker 1: just the very cutest form of emotional manipulation. Check out 66 00:04:23,680 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: the brainstuff channel on YouTube, and for more on this 67 00:04:25,960 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: and thousands of other topics, visit how stuff works dot com.