(09-12-2012, 07:59 AM)Ram Wrote: Most dogs and cats and also many other mammal can be trained to react when you call their names. One simple example is when you call out to your dog or cat, they will come over or follow you. Many people assume the pet animals in fact know what their own names are. Do they?
Another theory is the pets only reacted because they are used to react to a certain sound - in this case the words you gave to them as names.
Do you believe the pets truly understand what their names are? or are they just following a sound pattern as order?
But doesn't a child do the same? After repeated usage of their name, they begin to respond to that, right?
It's an age old debate as there are many detractors that say Koko the gorilla is not really learning & responding to sign language as he is "just mocking" what he is taught, yet isn't that what babies & young children do ?
