You know your rescue dog lived before you entered the shelter, but how much time do they really remember? Does your dog have? recognize their former owner Or where they used to live? Can they recall specific experiences whether they were good or bad? For some who are saved, forgetting a painful past can be a good thing, but is it possible? Here’s a closer look at how dogs’ memories work and what scientists think they can remember about their past.
Breaking the memory
The question of whether rescue dogs can recall their past has to do with the power of memory. We all know dogs have fond memories — how do they know what to do when you say “sit” or what it means when you get off their leash? However, the act of remembering is more complicated than we realize. There are different aspects of memory, and the way in which dogs remember is still unclear.
Remember past training with semantic memory
Semantic memory is a type of long-term memory based on knowledge rather than experience. People use semantic memory when taking tests, and babies use it excessively as they learn to recognize everything from people’s faces to the color of their favorite toy. Semantic memory is the brain that remembers general knowledge necessary for everyday life.
When you teach your dog the “roll up” sign, they’ll use their semantic memory to connect your words to the action you want them to take. As long as you occasionally reinforce that memory, your dog will retain that knowledge for the rest of their life. That’s why when you adopt a rescue dog, one of the first things you should do is determine where they are. training. New owners are encouraged to call out different cues at random to see if the dog reacts.
Thanks to semantic memory, dogs can easily remember things they learned years ago. If your rescue dog was trained before you met them, they won’t suddenly forget those lessons when you adopt them. That training will stick with them even as the rest of their lives change.
Remember the experience with epic memory
Knowing your dog can remember past training is helpful, but that’s not exactly what most people think of when it comes to their pet’s past life. They want to know about emotional things. Do dogs love their former owners? What kind of bed did they sleep on? Do they even have a bed?
This is where things get complicated. When people remember their past, it’s like we’re traveling back in time. We put ourselves in our past and replay the memory like a movie in our heads. Scientists and psychologists call this remember the segment. It is the ability to relate specific events to places, times, and emotions. It’s an important part of being human, but until now, science has been largely inconclusive about whether other animals have similar abilities.
One Research published in 2016 is the closest we have to evidence that dogs think about memories in the same way that we do. Animal psychologist Caludia Fugazza led a team to study memory in dogs. They set up a test to determine if a dog was using their semantic memory or a type of episodic memory to remember a particular cue. You can find out the details of the test here. Ultimately, the results showed that dogs have “unexpected potential” to store complex memories. Fugazza doesn’t go as far as to say that dogs have episodic memories like humans, but research suggests dogs can have “episode-like” memories that allow them to stick certain events into memory. long-term.
An important aspect of episodic memory is that memories are created without conscious effort. That’s the difference between memorizing a math equation because you know it’s going to be on the test and being able to think back and remember where you were while studying, what the room looked like, and what you were using. What color pen? Those memories won’t help you on the test, but your brain will remember them anyway without you having to tell it. Because we can’t ask dogs to describe their memories unambiguously, there’s no concrete way to know if they remember experiences like we do. Most Scientists say no, but that doesn’t mean they can’t recall things from their past. There is another aspect of memory to explore.
Remember emotions with associative memory
With a dog’s ability to use episodic memory still a big question mark, that brings us to the type of memory that dogs use the most—associative memory. Associations are emotional connections made with specific stimuli, and they can be positive or negative. An example of a positive association is how a dog combines fun and excitement with a dog park. They (most likely) don’t remember that day last week when they chased a hound for 30 minutes and then rolled in the mud, but they do remember how they felt at the time and associate those feelings. with location.
Dogs make associations with almost everything they come in contact with. Vacuum, toys, food, family members – they learn to associate things with sensations. That’s how they always remember which toys are their favorites and recognize which ones they like and who they’ve learned to stay away from.
Dogs most likely use a combination of semantic and associative memories to relate the past to their present. So when you take your newly adopted dog on their first car trip, and they refuse to get in the car, they may be using their associative memory to recall a negative experience with the umbrella. bowl. They may not think back to a specific time they were in a car and got sick, but because of that experience, they now associate all cars with negative feelings.
There is still no clear answer as to what your dog is capable of remembering and what they are not, but all together, evidence shows that rescue dogs can actually remember the most aspects. determined in their past lives. The specific facts and details are most likely outside of them, but they generalize everything into a feeling that lasts a long time with them. Your dog’s memory doesn’t work the same way yours does, but it’s safe to say they remember important aspects of their past, which could include who they spent the most time with. and the meaningful places they visited. Now, if only they could tell you what their life was like.
Featured photo of Samantha Scholl above Unplug
Source: Today’s Psychology American Science, Smithsonian , VetInfo
