You’ve probably called your pet or a family member by the wrong name at some point. It probably makes you feel like a dingus. Thankfully, this is a real thing that pretty much everyone does, and it’s not a sign of a fading memory, according to a new Duke University study.
Built from five surveys which gathered data from over 1,700 participants, the study found that most people in the same relationships misname their loved ones regardless of physical appearance. This affects family members including dogs, as well as your friends.
Basically, there’s a part of your brain that thinks your dog looks like your brother.
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David Rubin, a neuroscience professor and one of the authors of the study said:
It’s a cognitive mistake we make, which reveals something about who we consider to be in our group. It’s not just random.
One surprising component in the study found that cat owners did not make this mistake, only pup parents. One thought is that dogs’ names are more embedded in our brains because they are more inclined to respond to their names.
So, if you have one of those cat-dogs, who does whatever the eff they want, you probably mixup human and dog names less than the average dog owner.
H/T: The News Tribune