You might have heard about our citizen science study on dogs and cats using buttons and soundboards to communicate with humans. Today, on #TritonGivingDay we are reaching out to ask you to donate to support all research efforts @cclabucsd.bsky.social is engaged in. We REALLY need your help!

Do you research social interactions and collective behavior? IIMAS-UNAM is hiring an Associate Researcher "C". PhD in psychology, anthropology or sociology + publications required. Women encouraged to apply. Maximum age 39 (♀️) and 37 (♂️). 📅 Deadline: June 1, 2026 📄 tinyurl.com/3dzc5nz4

New paper alert with Stephan Kaufhold, Mia Borzello and David Kirsh! How well does cognition studied in the lab reflect cognition in the real world? Much of what we think we know about cognition rests on methodological assumptions that have become so established that they often go unexamined.

Thrilled to announce our new paper with @elisafelsche.bsky.social , @christophvoelter.bsky.social and Josep Call on how orang-utans and chimpanzees cooperate strategically based on the partner's incentives. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Orang-utans and chimpanzees cooperate strategically based on the partner’s incentives

Chimpanzees, Pan troglodytes, are often regarded as a model species for the evolution of human cooperation. However, whether chimpanzees' decision-mak…

sciencedirect.com

Only 12 years from the day we collected the first data point for this fun project… all my fault! Sorry! Very proud of the spaghetti tube apparatus. As an Italian, walking into the zoo with a pack of spaghetti every testing day made for some fun interactions. Thank you Christoph, Elisa and Josep!

Christoph Völter@christophvoelter.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Far too long in the making.. but finally out in #AnimalBehaviour @asab.org: Orang-utans and chimpanzees #cooperate strategically based on the partner’s incentives. doi.org/10.1016/j.an... w/ @elisafelsche.bsky.social , Josep Call & @federicorossano.bsky.social

I had a blast participating in a @novapbs.bsky.social deep dive with Christina Hunger, hosted by Julia Cort and Chris Schmidt. If you are interested or skeptical about dogs trained with soundboards to communicate with humans, I hope you will check it out. And check out the NOVA documentary as well

Today at 9pm ET/PT is the US premiere of the @pbs.org NOVA documentary "Can Dogs Talk?". It covers the project @cclabucsd.bsky.social has been running with thousands of button trained dogs. It is a true honor to be on NOVA and we hope you will find it engaging: www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vi...

Can Dogs Talk?

Do speech buttons really allow dogs to talk to us? Scientists investigate.

pbs.org

A brief extract from a fun livestream with awesome colleagues hosted by Dr. Anne Valuska, organized by @templetonworld.bsky.social and Purina. Let's give non-human animals a real chance to show us how intelligent and capable they are. We can only benefit from engaging with nature with an open mind

On September 28th at 18:30 the French language premiere of the documentary "Can dogs talk?" will air on @iciradiocanada.bsky.social Découverte series @cclabucsd.bsky.social work on soundboard trained dogs is a central piece of this documentary. English versions will air on NOVA and CBC in early 2026

I had the most wonderful time presenting our current progress on this project to the amazing @interspecies-io.bsky.social community! If you could not attend but are interested in finding out more about our work, check out the lecture here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpjF...

"Can our pets tell us what they are thinking?" with Federico Rossano

YouTube video by Interspecies Internet

youtube.com

Interspecies Internet@interspecies-io.bsky.social · last yr.

🚀 New talk: Can Our Pets Tell Us What They’re Thinking? with @federicorossano.bsky.social   Join this lecture and explore the potential and limitations of button-based devices for interspecies communication! 🐶💭 📆Saturday, May 17 ⏰4 pm GMT |12 pm EST |9 am PST 🔗Register here: https://rb.gy/w8ikcn

Thank you so much for the invitation! Very much looking forward to giving this talk and connecting with your community!

Interspecies Internet@interspecies-io.bsky.social · last yr.

🚀 New talk: Can Our Pets Tell Us What They’re Thinking? with @federicorossano.bsky.social   Join this lecture and explore the potential and limitations of button-based devices for interspecies communication! 🐶💭 📆Saturday, May 17 ⏰4 pm GMT |12 pm EST |9 am PST 🔗Register here: https://rb.gy/w8ikcn

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, owners have been training their dogs to “tell” them what they want by mashing buttons with their paws to express words in various human languages. A UCSD study began to explore the practice further and now includes participants in dozens of countries worldwide.

A new global study allows dogs to ‘talk’ to their owners by pressing buttons that say human words - The World from PRX

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, owners have been training their dogs to “tell” them what they want by mashing buttons with their paws to express words in various human languages. A UCSD study began...

theworld.org

Today (April 30th) is 🔱 #TritonGivingDay Please donate to support the students in @cclabucsd.bsky.social studying 10,000 pets from 47 countries in the largest Animal Communication study ever attempted! We need your help tinyurl.com/2s3ksem2 ! This beauty is Parker! @ucsandiego.bsky.social

Thank you to @npr.org , @kpbssandiego.bsky.social @theworld.org and @MarcoWerman for covering our study on pets communication: theworld.org/segments/202... If you are interested in participating in the study check out: cclab.ucsd.edu

Thank you @ucnewsroom.bsky.social for creating this informative and even handed representation of the challenges and opinions around pets pushing buttons to communicate with humans. See below a few papers we published on it. We have 3 more on the way (one about cats) www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTnV...

Are TikTok’s “talking" dogs legit — or just a clever trick? Science explains

YouTube video by Fig. 1 by University of California

youtube.com

A poem for these highly unpredictable times: Si sta come D’autunno Sugli alberi Le foglie We feel like In Autumn On trees The leaves By Giuseppe Ungaretti

We are less than a week away from our first ever Detection Dog Trials event with MAN-K9 at UCSD! We hope to see you there, this Saturday & Sunday March 8th & 9th! 🐕🐾

Federico Rossano@federicorossano.bsky.social · last yr.

The scent detection dog trials will take place on March 8th-9th in La Jolla (CA) at UC San Diego. Professionals and civilians will be competing on different days, judged by professional judges and receiving prizes. This is going to be a one of a kind event and hopefully the first of many.

The scent detection dog trials will take place on March 8th-9th in La Jolla (CA) at UC San Diego. Professionals and civilians will be competing on different days, judged by professional judges and receiving prizes. This is going to be a one of a kind event and hopefully the first of many.

A few days ago I was asked by @kncukier.bsky.social for @economist.com "whether language is a cognitive ability that’s unique to humans, or just one of many modes of communication dotted across the tree of life". You can hear the first episode of the conversation that followed here. econ.st/3COF6QS

Do animals have language?

Our podcast on science and technology. The first episode in a two-part series that explores animal communication and efforts to translate it in the age of AI

econ.st

‼️The Comparative Cognition Lab at UC San Diego is hosting the Detection Dog Trials in collaboration with MAN-K9! Join us March 8-9th to compete for trophies & prizes, contribute to scientific research, and showcase your dog’s scent detection skills! Learn more & register: t.co/OdBFzgxAD3

Thank you so much Sacha Vignieri and @science.org for the shout out! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

In Other Journals

Editors’ selections from the current scientific literature

science.org

Fascinating article by @brandonkeim.bsky.social! If you're interested in learning more about ape gestures, check out our earlier episodes featuring... @federicorossano.bsky.social: disi.org/species-of-c... @nakedprimate.bsky.social: disi.org/how-do-chimp... www.nytimes.com/2025/01/21/s...

Mother Chimp and Daughter Share a Special Sign

Humans are known to invent private hand gestures. Chimps in the wild do, too, a new study suggests.

nytimes.com

After getting my dog I became fascinated by all the contradictory ways humans treat pets — for example, people who teach their dogs to use buttons to talk. I decided to see what was behind this phenomenon, culturally and scientifically, for NYT Magazine. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/06/m...

Do Our Dogs Have Something to Tell Us?

Many owners think so, thanks to the “talking buttons” craze on TikTok and Instagram. Scientists are less convinced.

nytimes.com

We're hiring an assistant professor at the intersection btw cognitive modeling of language / social interaction, computational ling / lang technologies. Exciting environment / great work-life balance / amazing students. international.au.dk/about/profil... Get in touch if interested!

Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science at the School of Communication and Culture - Vacancy at Aarhus University

Vacancy at School of Communication and Culture - Linguistics, Cognitive Science and Semiotics, Dept. of, Aarhus University

international.au.dk

A couple of years ago BBC came to our field site to film the olive baboon troop that the Uaso Ngiro Baboon Project has been studying for 50 years. You can now see the beauty of our field site in Episode 10 of the series The Secret Lives of Animals that just dropped on Apple Tv. Highly recommended!

New article on how dogs are using their soundboards at home is finally out! Using a large dataset (250K) of button presses by dogs and owners, we show that dogs’ presses are (i) non-accidental, (ii) non-random, and (iii) not mere repetitions of their owners’ presses. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Soundboard-trained dogs produce non-accidental, non-random and non-imitative two-button combinations - Scientific Reports

Scientific Reports - Soundboard-trained dogs produce non-accidental, non-random and non-imitative two-button combinations

nature.com