Do dogs have imaginations?

Do dogs have imaginations?

Arvid Damski, 12 and Rudolf Damski, 9

Me humans use imagination when, for example, we tell stories and imagine things that don’t exist. It seems that dogs hardly have exactly the same abilities.

However, they have cognitive and complex thinking qualities, thanks to which they learn, remember and connect past events with future ones. In that sense, you can say that dogs have imagination.

For example, if the dog sees the owner grabbing the outdoor leash, he understands that we are going for a run, and then he eagerly runs to the front door. So it can imagine what is happening and wait for it to happen.

Sometimes the dog wants to go out, but the person just stares at the TV. The resourceful dog solves the problem by fetching the leash and taking it to the person lounging on the sofa.

Dogs are also good at learning words, which they convert into corresponding mental images. For example, when they hear the word ball, they know how to look for a ball among different things.

Humans utilize a dog’s memory, understanding and problem-solving abilities in many ways. Trained working dogs obey verbal instructions that can be reinforced with signs or other prompts. In many tight situations, a dog’s help can be invaluable.

Outi Vainio

emeritus professor of veterinary pharmacology

University of Helsinki

How can the mind hold so many things, even though the human brain is quite small?

Eemil Lehtonen, 6

Human compared to other animal species, the brain is very large in relation to the size of the body. However, the most important thing for the functioning of the brain is that there are about one hundred billion neurons, each of which is connected to thousands of other cells.

Human memory is indeed stored in connections between cells. So it works differently than, for example, the memory of computers, which stores each piece of information in its own memory location, of which there are only a certain number.

Every time a memory is stored in the human brain, the strength of the cell connections changes slightly. Similar memories, such as weekly visits to the sauna, are partly stored on top of each other so that they can sometimes get a little mixed up.

In the human brain, the place where memories are stored is part of the same neural network that also processes sensory information. For example, the memory of a friend’s facial features is therefore the same network that processes visual information.

The brain reacts quickly when we see a familiar face. When, on the other hand, one has learned a new language, for example, the ability of the auditory areas of the brain to hear sounds has changed. Memory knowledge is therefore a part of perception.

Minna Huotilainen

brain researcher, professor of education

University of Helsinki

Why don’t you say full empty in the same way as full full, but full empty? What is stuffy and stuffy?

Ben Syrén, 5

Table and typö are not ordinary words, and they do not have their own meaning content. They are specially formed effects, i.e. reinforcement words, which strengthen the meaning of the words full and empty.

Creating effects has its own rules. They are usually two syllables and always start the same way as the word whose meaning they reinforce. A blank space would not follow the rule, because the beginnings would be different: tä- and ty-.

Consecutive words repeat the same initial letters, i.e. the initial chord is an old Finnish expression known for example from the Kalevala.

There are quite a lot of other words in the Finnish language that have similar reinforcement words as in the words Ben mentioned: for example supissuomalainen, tipotisään, upouuus and ypöiksin.

In addition, there are some words that act as reinforcement words, but are also real words. For example, in the words sysi black and viti white, Sysi means coal and Viti means freshly fallen snow. Such words do not have to follow the rule that the beginnings are the same.

Kaisa Häkkinen

professor emerita of the Finnish language

University of Turku

Why does water purify?

Julius Mäkirinta-Seppälä, 3

Water cleans quite well, because it can effectively dissolve, rinse and dispose of dirt. Dirt can be visible, such as sand or sugar, or bacteria or other invisible dirt.

Water cleans water-soluble substances, such as sugar or salt, by dissolving them, i.e. by mixing them evenly with the water. Water also effectively washes away substances that form even weak bonds with water.

Such are almost all inorganic, i.e. matter from non-living nature, such as sand and lime, as well as organic solid matter, such as soil and food scraps. Rinsing can be made more efficient with a brush, for example.

However, water does not wash without soap or other detergent, e.g. oil from table, floor or dish surfaces or skin. There are points in the soap that form bonds with water and oil, so the soap, water and oil dissolve into each other.

The thick layer of bacteria is also thinned out by rinsing with water, but the bacteria must not be completely washed away, because they strongly cling to the surface they are attached to. Water alone does not kill bacteria either, unless the water is very hot. In practice, for example, you cannot wash your hands with such hot water.

However, soap and water together destroy bacteria quite well. Hand sanitizers usually contain 70 percent, or a good two-thirds of alcohol, and 30 percent water, because the water allows the alcohol to penetrate deep into the bacteria to destroy them.

Kjell Knapas

chemistry university teacher, researcher

University of Helsinki

Send the question, the questioner’s full name and age to lasten.tiedeskö[email protected]. The column is provided by Touko Kauppinen.