Foundations Lab Assignment 2- Due 9/8 11:59PM EST

This week’s assignment is to create your own “mini experiment.” Remember the videos
we watched in lab about whether or not dogs understand language? This is your question. “Can
dogs understand human language?”
Tell us how you would test this question and determine whether or not dogs can
understand language. Be sure to include the independent variable, dependent variable, a
control group, and a hypothesis/hypotheses, participants, and results. Reading chapter 2 is
necessary to fully understand the different components of an experiment. Please fully explain
how you would carry out the experiment, and remember to take into account confounding
variables (different experimenters, environment, etc.).

Submit your assignment to the discussion board for your lab section.

Below is an example of how you can format your experiment:

Research Question: Can dogs understand human language?

Participants (Types of Dogs)/Population: 3 Full Bred German Shepherds, 3 Full Bred Golden

Retrievers, 3 Full Bred Border Collies (all of the same age), 1 trainer

Hypothesis/es: If you train and care for dogs for a year, then they will be able to understand what

you are saying when you talk to them.

IV: The breed of dog.

DV: The ability for the dogs to understand what is being said to them after a year.

Control Group: Age of dog, person taking care of them, things being told.

Example of Experimental Procedure (steps):

 At breakfast tell one dog a morning to fetch the news

 After lunch test the dogs to associated names with certain toys (same 5 toys for each dog)

 At dinner tell the dogs (separately) to sit in order to receive their food

Expected Results: After a full year of training and being cared for by a person, the dogs will

associate words with their meaning, toys with their names, and commands with their actions.
 The question being asked is “Can dogs understand human language”? The hypothesis is

that if these nine dogs are cared for and trained by the same person for a year, then they will be

able to understand human language. To understand and find an answer to this question an

experiment can be conducted where nine dogs will be cared for and trained by the same person

over the span of one year. Some of the smartest dog breeds will be used to see if dogs can

understand human langue. This experiment will include three full bred German Shepherds, three

full Bred Golden Retrievers, and three full Bred Border Collies, they will all be the same age.

They will all be in good health as well. The purpose of having different breeds of dogs is to see if

the breed of dog effects the results of the experiment, and three of each would be used to see if

there is a pattern or constant amongst the breed. Only having one of each dog, or only one dog

presents a problem because they could be a special case with results that are different from the

average dog or average dog of their specific breed. Being trained and cared for by the same

person ensures that the dogs are all getting the same treatment and lifestyle in the same

environment so those will not be confounding variables. The dogs will get treats when they

accurately identify what they are being told whether it is picking out the proper toy or doing the

correct command. If they get something wrong they will be punished by hearing “bad [insert

name]”. All of the dogs will be told the same commands but separately and individually so that

they do not just mimic the behavior they watch other dogs conduct. During the year span that

will help the dogs distinguish between behavior they should repeat again or behavior they should

not, getting a treat will signal to the dogs that what they are doing is correct and to keep doing

that while hearing “bad [insert name]” will make the dogs feel bad and will discourage them

from repeating that behavior. It is expected that at the end of the experiment the dogs will

understand human language by associating names with the proper toys, doing they correct
command they are told to do, and associate certain words. By associating words it is meant that

the dogs will be able to learn what paper is by being told to fetch it and then getting the proper

reward or punishment depending on what they do or learning emotions by hearing a word their

owner says and seeing how their owner looks/acts because of that emotion. The independent

variable for this experiment is the breed of dog, the dependent variable is the ability for the dogs

to understand human language after a year, the control group includes the person taking care of

the dogs, the age of the dogs, and the commands the dogs are told.