Would an experiment like this tell if dogs like stories? Some dogs will watch TV with their owners. They will react to some things on the screen, so we know they are watching and recognizing what is being shown. So do an experiment like this:
Get a dog that pays attention to the TV and make a video of what they like to watch–dogs in the park, squirrels, ducks, whatever.
Train the dog to do a certain task on voice command (e.g. ring a bell)
Give the voice command (“Ring Bell”) and when they do the task, turn on the TV and have the video play
Eventually the dog will associate ringing the bell with the video playing
Observe if the dog independently rings the bell to get you to turn on the TV so they can watch the video
Observe if the dog remembers the video and seems to anticipate what is about to happen.
That might show if dogs like stories. It would be similar to how toddlers will pick a DVD that they want to watch again (and again, and again…)
If the dog indicates he wants to watch the video, a further experiment could be to make multiple videos and have a separate task for each one. See if the dog prefers certain stories to others.
I would think you could also do this with monkeys where they have a set of buttons and each one will bring up a different video. You could see if they watch a video over and over and what their behavior is while doing so.
One of my favorite tricks for people with little dogs (not my kind at all) is to talk to them in that sappy sweet lilting voice adults use with small cute critters and babies.
While actually saying blood-curdling things like “Hi Ginger. Boy you’d make a tasty burrito. So tender and juicy! All I need is to get a knife and slit your throat then fillet your little flanks. (gently rub critter’s flanks). Yes, yes; you’d be delicious. Just add some soy sauce and a nice Chianti. But you’re kinda small so I’ll need to eat all your littermates too. Wouldn’t that be lovely to see your brothers and sisters one last time? Yes it would, wouldn’t it! I’ll go get my knife right now.”
The dogs just love that treatment. Their eyes glow, their tails wag, and they’re totally relaxed & happy while you stroke their flank or ears. And it usually stops their owners from foisting their noxious little beasts upon me again. So it’s a win-win.
When the first computerized CRT-based airliner cockpits came out the old WWII era guys were almost all retired. They were much more comfortable with mechanical things than these new-fangled computer-thingies.
One probably apocryphal story that made the rounds industry-wide was a classroom of these old guys seeing a training video on these new systems and somebody blurting out “Now I know how my dog feels watching TV.”
The point relevant to your story being that recognition <> understanding.
