Some dogs can learn new words simply by eavesdropping on human conversations, Hungarian scientists have discovered. This was reported by the Associated Press, citing the results of a study published in the journal Science.

Dogs are typically good at remembering commands like "sit" and "lie down," but have a harder time remembering the names of objects. However, there's a subset of dogs that can remember the names of hundreds of objects. These dogs are called gifted—scientists currently know of approximately 50 such dogs.

In a new study, scientists attempted to determine exactly how these dogs manage to remember words. To do this, they used an approach developed for studying speech comprehension in young children. Ten gifted dogs participated in the study.

In the experiment, owners held a new toy in their hands and simply discussed it with another person. Afterward, the dogs were sent to another room and asked to retrieve the specific toy in question. Seven out of ten dogs successfully completed the task: they correctly selected the toy stingray or armadillo after hearing its name mentioned in the humans' conversation.

"We are observing for the first time a group of dogs that are able to learn commands by eavesdropping on human conversations," said study author Shani Dror of Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary.

The dogs mastered the task even when their owners hid the toy in an opaque box and then talked about it with another person, creating a gap between the object's perception and its name.

This ability to eavesdrop has previously been demonstrated only by a few animals, such as parrots and great apes. This ability is also important for humans: children under two years old can learn new words by ear, even if their parents never intended to teach them.

"New research shows that animals' cognitive abilities are much higher than you might think. But not all dogs absorb information so easily. So it's unlikely that your furry friend is learning names while munching on leftovers under the dinner table," noted animal cognition expert Heidi Lin of the University of South Alabama.