You know your
rescue dog had a life before you walked into the shelter, but how much of that
time do they actually remember? Would your dog recognize their old owners or
where they used to live? Can they recall specific experiences whether they were
good or bad? For some rescues, forgetting a painful past might be a good thing,
but is that even possible? Here’s a closer look at how your dog’s memory works
and what scientists think they can remember about their past.
Breaking Down Memory
The question of
whether or not rescue dogs can remember their pasts has to do with the power of
their memory. We all know dogs have decent memories—how else would they know
what to do when you say “sit” or what it means when you get out their leash?
The act of remembering, however, is more complicated than we realize. There are
different aspects of memory, and the way in which dogs remember is still
unclear.
Remembering Past
Training With Semantic Memory
Semantic memory is
a type of long-term memory that draws on knowledge over experience. People use
semantic memory when they study for tests, and babies use it in overdrive as
they learn to recognize everything from people’s faces to the colors of their
favorite toys. Semantic memory is the brain remembering general knowledge
needed for daily life.
When you teach
your dog the cue for “roll over,” they use their semantic memory to connect
your words with the action you want them to perform. As long as you
occasionally reinforce that memory, your dog should hold on to that knowledge
their entire life. It’s the reason why when you adopt a rescue dog, one of the
first things you should do is determine where they are with training. New
owners are encouraged to randomly call out different cues to see if the dog
responds.
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
once you adopt them. That training will stick with them even as the rest of
their life changes.
Remembering Experiences with Episodic Memory
Knowing your dog
can remember past training comes in handy, but that’s not exactly what most dog
people think of when it comes to their pets’ past lives. They want to know
about the emotional stuff. Did the dog love their old owner? What kind of bed
did they sleep on? Did they even have a bed?
This is where
things get tricky. When humans remember their pasts, it’s like we’re traveling
back in time. We place ourselves in our past shoes and relive the memory like a
movie in our heads. Scientists and psychologists call this episodic memory.
It’s the ability to relate specific events to places, times, and emotions. It’s
a big part of being human, but so far, science is mostly inconclusive about
whether or not other animals have the same ability.
A study published
in 2016 is the closest we’ve gotten to evidence that dogs think of memories in
the same way we do. Animal psychologist Caludia Fugazza led a research team to
study memory in dogs. They set up an experiment to determine whether a dog was
using their semantic memory or a type of episodic memory to remember a specific
cue. You can learn the details of the experiment here. In the end, the results
showed dogs have “unexpected potential” to hold on to complex memories. Fugazza
doesn’t go as far as to say dogs have episodic memories like humans, but the
study suggests dogs might have “episodic-like” memories that allow them to
commit certain events to long-term memory.
A crucial aspect
of episodic memory is that memories are made without conscious effort. It’s the
difference between memorizing a math equation because you know it’ll be on the
test and being able to think back and remember where you were when you were
studying, what the room looked like, and what color pen you were using. Those
memories aren’t going to help you on the test, but your brain remembers them
anyway without you telling it to. Because we can’t explicitly ask our dogs to
describe their memories, 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’s one more aspect of memory to
explore.
Remembering
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 dogs use most - associative memory. Associations are emotional
connections made to specific stimuli, and they can be either positive or
negative. An example of a positive association is how a dog associates fun and
excitement with the dog park. They (most likely) don’t remember that day last
week when they chased a terrier for a full 30 minutes and then rolled in a mud
puddle, but they remember how they felt at the time and associate those
emotions to the location.
Dogs make
associations with almost everything they come in contact with. The vacuum,
their toys, food, their family members - they learn to associate everything
with a feeling. It’s how they always remember which toy is their favorite and
recognize the people they like and the people they’ve learned to stay away
from.
Dogs most likely
use a combination of semantic and associative memories to relate their past to
their present. So when you go to take your newly adopted dog on their first car
trip, and they refuse to enter the vehicle, they could be using their
associative memory to recall a negative experience with cars. They likely
aren’t thinking back on a specific time they rode in a car and got sick, but
because of that experience, they now associate all cars with negative feelings.
There’s still no
clear-cut answer as to what your dog is capable of remembering and what they’re
not, but all together, evidence shows rescue dogs can indeed remember certain
aspects of their past lives. Specific events and details are most likely beyond
them, but they generalize things into feelings that stay with them long-term.
Your dog’s memory doesn’t work the same way yours does, but it’s safe to say
they remember significant aspects of their past that could possibly include the
people they spent the most time with and meaningful places they visited. Now,
if only they could tell you about what their life used to be like.
No comments:
Post a Comment