Текст для чтения + задания (Dogs can recognize how you feel)

Intermediate

So you think you know your dog. But how well does your dog know you? She probably recognizes you when she sees you. But can a dog tell by simply looking at you whether you have a happy or an angry expression on your face? Researchers in Austria have taught pet dogs to know the difference.

Dogs are very mindful of sound. When dog owners shout or speak in a strong, harsh voice, dogs often act guilty and quietly move away from the area.

Recently, researchers found that dogs can look at our faces, and tell the difference between a smile and a frown. The animals were able to recognize a look of approval from one of disapproval.

Researchers at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna performed a series of experiments. They taught dogs to recognize facial expressions. They showed the dogs two pictures of either the upper or lower half of a person's face. On one picture, the person looked happy. The other appeared angry.

The dogs were then shown images of the eyes or mouths of people they had never seen before. They were also shown the left half of the faces used in training.

Corsin Muller led the study. "We were essentially speaking, do they realize that smiling eyes have the same meaning as a smiling mouth, or angry eyes have the same meaning as an angry mouth? And it turned out that they really did perform very well in these probe trials. Once they had learned the initial discrimination, they could spontaneously, immediately choose the correct one also in the probe trials with the normal stimuli."

Once the dogs learned to recognize which image was happy or angry, they could easily identify the same expressions in pictures of any face.

Corsin Muller says future studies will try to show whether dogs can learn the meaning of facial expressions -- for example, whether a frown shows that someone is angry.

"What we can say with our study is that they can discriminate them, that they can tell these ones are different. But what we cannot be sure of at this point is what exact meaning they are associating with these different expressions."

"Seems of course likely that they would associate some positive meaning with the smiley face and they would associate some rather negative meaning with the angry face. But what exactly they are associating with these expressions we cannot know at this point."

In the experiments, researchers found the dogs were slower to link a reward, or prize, with recognition of the angry face. This suggested that dogs had an idea people with angry faces were best avoided.

Corsin Muller says canine investigators are also interested in finding out whether wild wolves can be trained to recognize human facial expressions.

The researchers' findings were published in the journal Current Biology. They provide the first solid evidence that humans are not the only species that can read the body language of another species.

Story from VOA Learning English:

learningenglish.voanews.com/content/dog-can-recognize-human-emotional-expressions/2656784.html

Published: July 26, 2015 08:39 UTC

Handouts

1. Predicition.

Look at the word cloud and try to guess what the text is about.

2. Questions for blocking vocabulary

She probably recognizes you when she sees you.

• Do the dogs know its owner? (Yes)

• Can the dogs see the difference between people? (Yes)

Researchers in Austria have taught pet dogs to know the difference.

• Is this job connected with science? (Yes)

• Where do they work? (In labs)

Dogs are very mindful of sound.

• Can the dogs notice difference between human voices? (Yes)

• Do dogs like noise? (No)

The animals were able to recognize a look of approval from one of disapproval.

• When you approve of something, does it mean you like it or not? (You like it)

• Are these words synonyms? (No, opposites)

Once they had learned the initial discrimination, they …

• Do the dogs learn about it in the beginning of the test? (Yes)

• Can the dogs see the difference? (Yes)

Humans are not the only species that can read the body language of another species.

• Is this a group or only one human or animal? (a group)

• Do they have anything similar? (Yes)

3. Find the best title for the article

1. Dogs can recognize how you feel

2. More experiments carried out all over the world

3. Dogs: friends or … ?

4. 10 top reasons to choose a dog as a pet.

5. Scientific approach in dog training.

4. Agree or disagree with the statements.

1. Dogs act guilty when they hear their master's loud and harsh voice.

2. When dogs look at us they can tell whether we are pleased or not.

3. The University of Veterinary Medicine developed a series of experiments in Germany.

4. The researchers practiced showing the dogs different halves of human faces.

5. The experimental data showed that dogs can see the difference between smiling and angry eyes and mouths.

6. The dogs could identify the difference only on one and the same face.

7. Dogs have an idea that people with angry expression on their face should be avoided.

8. Wild wolves were involved in the experiments, too .

9. The results of the experiments haven't been presented to the public yet.

Keys

1. Find the best title for the article

6. Dogs can recognize how you feel

7. More experiments carried out all over the world

8. Dogs: friends or … ?

9. 10 top reasons to choose a dog as a pet.

10. Scientific approach in dog training.

2. Agree or disagree with the statements.

1. Dogs act guilty when they hear their master's loud and harsh voice. (Yes)

2. When dogs look at us they can tell whether we are pleased or not. (Yes)

3. The University of Veterinary Medicine developed a series of experiments in Germany. (No, it is in Austria)

4. The researchers practiced showing the dogs different halves of human faces. (Yes)

5. The experimental data showed that dogs can see the difference between smiling and angry eyes and mouths. (Yes)

6. The dogs could identify the difference only on one and the same face. (No, they see the difference on any face)

7. Dogs have an idea that people with angry expression on their face should be avoided. (Yes)

8. Wild wolves were involved in the experiments, too. (No, but the investigators are interested in it)

9. The results of the experiments haven't been presented to the public yet. (No, the findings were published in Current Biology)