Crazy! Your Dog Will Forget You Two Hugged After 2 Minutes

Crazy! Your Dog Will Forget You Two Hugged After 2 Minutes

A group of researchers at Stockholm University led by Johan Lind tested the memories of 25 animal species, and what they found about dogs is strange. Apparently, man’s best friend has a short term memory that only lasts 2 minutes!

Sure, that is not as bad as a chimp’s, which only lasts 20 seconds but still! The study implies that your dog will not remember that you gave them that rubber bone that they can’t sleep without. They won’t remember that you just had the most dramatic reunion after being apart for months.

How is it then that your dog still gets excited to see you? Shouldn’t they have forgotten you two minutes after you met? Not really. Dogs have associative memories that enable them to remember repeated events. They know you because they see you regularly. They know swimming is their favorite past time because you two have been to the lake countless times.

Associative memory is also how they can learn and remember tricks. Remember that the next time you find yourself getting frustrated because your dog can’t properly fetch the ball. Repetition is key. As it stands, only humans have episodic memory. You are lucky you can recall specific events from the past.

Nevertheless, when talking to National Geographic, Scientist Gema-Martin Ordas said that more research would be needed before any conclusions on animal memories can be made. And Johan Lind seems to agree with him. When talking about his research, Johan noted that the laboratory environment could be messing with the animals’ responses.

But you know what, whether your dog remembers what happened two minutes ago or not, it doesn’t matter. Nothing should take away all those beautiful moments you two have shared.

Feature Image Source: Pixabay

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