or something you said.

或是你說的話

It's super cute, but why do they do it?

雖然看起來超可愛，但為什麼他們要歪頭?

Well, the answer's not entirely clear,

目前為止還沒有明確的答案，

and there hasn't been any peer-reviewed research about it.

且也沒有經過專家審核的研究出現

But a couple scientists hypothesize that head-tilting might help dogs see and hear us better.

但有些科學家假設，歪頭可以幫助狗更清楚的看見或聽見我們

One popular idea comes from a 2013 blog posted by a psychologist named Stanley Coren,

有一個廣為人知的假設，由名為Stanley Coren的心理學家於2013年發佈在部落格上

who studies dogs and their behaviors, among other things.

Stanley Coren致力於研究狗狗及他們的行為等等

He thinks that puzzled tilt means a dog is trying to see you better.

他認為歪頭是表示狗狗在嘗試更清楚地看見你

When you speak to someone, dog or otherwise,

當你和某人或狗狗說話時

you express a lot of emotion with the lower half of your face.

會透過下半部分的臉來表達情緒

And according to a small 2015 study,

根據一份2015年的研究顯示

it seems like our canine companions can tell the difference

我們的好夥伴似乎可以透過臉部表情的變化

between facial expressions that show emotion, like happiness or anger.

來辨別不同情緒像是開心或憤怒

But a dog with a bigger muzzle might not be able to see your smile or frown clearly,

但有較大吻部的狗可能沒有辦法清楚地看見你笑或皺眉

so Coren suggests that tilting helps them get a better view.

所以 Coren 假設歪頭可以幫助它們看得更清楚

He tested this idea by surveying 582 dog owners online,

為了測試這個理論，他在線上調查了 582 位狗主人

asking them to describe about their dog's breed or head shape,

詢問他們自己狗狗的品種或是頭型

then to rate how frequently their dogs do the head tilting thing.

並請他們算算看他們的狗狗歪頭的頻率

The data were split into two groups.

資料結果分成兩組

One was brachycephalic dogs with flatter faces like pugs.

一組是臉較扁的短吻犬，例如巴哥

And the other was a mix of mesaticephalic dogs with medium muzzles like beagles

另一組則是吻部大小中等的狗，如米格魯

and dolichocephalic dogs with long noses like greyhounds.

以及有長鼻子的長吻犬，像是格雷伊獵犬

In Coren's survey, 71% of owners of bigger-muzzled dogs reported that

在Coren的調查中，71%的長吻犬主人回報他們的狗

their pups “frequently,"“most of the time,” or “always” tilt their heads when spoken to,

「時常」、「幾乎」或「總是」在有人對他們說話時歪頭

as opposed to only 52% of owners of smaller-muzzled dogs.

相較之下，僅有52%的短吻犬主人回答在相同情況下狗狗會歪頭

That, he says, is a statistically significant difference.

Coren 認為這個數據上的差異相當地重要

But 52% is still a lot of dogs, so this probably isn't the whole story.

但52%也是相當高的比率，所以真相可能不僅於此

A psychologist who runs a dog cognition lab named Alexandra Horowitz thinks that

一位經營狗狗認知實驗室的心理學家 Alexandra Horowitz 認為

dogs could be trying to hear us better with those sideways looks.

狗狗歪頭可能是在嘗試更清楚地聽見我們的聲音

Specifically, she thinks they're tilting their heads to adjust the floppy parts of their ears,

她認為狗狗歪頭是為了調整他們耳朵軟軟的區塊---

called pinnae, to get a better sense of where sounds are coming from.

耳廓，以辨別聲音的來源

A third take from a dog trainer named Steven Lindsay is that dogs tilt their heads because

有一位狗狗訓練師 Steven Lindsay 則認為狗狗歪頭是因為

one part of their brain is involved in both listening and body language.

他們腦袋的一部分區塊同時包含了聽覺及肢體語言

We think a region called the nucleus ambiguous

我們認為有一個稱為疑核的部位

controls a dog's head movements, as well as the muscles in a dog's middle ear

控制著狗狗的頭部運動，以及狗狗中耳的肌肉

that help it perceive subtly different sounds.

中耳可以幫助狗狗辨認不同細微的聲音

So Lindsay suggests that when your pup is listening,

所以 Lindsay 認為當你的狗狗正在聽你說話時

it can't help but show you with its body too.

他會不由自主的用身體告訴你

We don't really know how accurate any of these guesses are,

我們不知道這些猜測是不是真的準確

but we do know that dogs tilting their heads is real cute.

但我們知道歪著頭的狗狗真的超級可愛

So to any animal psychologists out there: round up some puppies, do some research,

所以對每位動物心理學家來說，找來小狗狗、做研究

and post more of these adorable videos online... for science!

以及po一些可愛的影片上網都是為了......為了科學!

Thanks for asking, and thanks especially to all of our patrons on Patreon

謝謝提問，也謝謝Patreon的贊助者們

who keep these answers coming.

幫助我們持續尋求這些答案

If you'd like to submit questions to be answered, or get some videos a few days early,

如果你想要提問，或是想要早一點看到影片的話

go to patreon.com/scishow.

請到 patreon.com/scishow.

And don't forget to go to youtube.com/scishow and subscribe!

也別忘記到 youtube.com/scishow並訂閱!