I'd imagine it would just be a physical response. Dog smells the meat which triggers a response in its brain that rings "food". When it sees the food on the floor, it's in a position where its usually not scolded so it lacks a fear instinct and therefore let's that food-driven response let loose and goes to eat it.

Isn't this how it usually is with animals? To train a dog you give it treats so it associates something delicious with its deed and will repeat it as long as it learns that that stimulus will come afterwards.

Another example is my cat. It loves my dad and probably associates his scent as a cue for treats and attention and my mom's with ignorance, so he doesn't have anything to ring a bell in his mind when he sees my mom and does nothing around her.

Two posters below are right with insticts, I was beating around the bush with my answer there, maybe I should sleep now lol.

MaReK

Australia446 Posts

May 21 2010 07:08 GMT

Instincts I guess? If I'm about to get run over by a car, I don't think 'oh shit I'd better move quickly so I don't get injured'. I just do it.

lunadragon

Canada5 Posts

May 21 2010 07:11 GMT

Instincts. All human and animals has an undefined set of commands we follow through life. Our ancestors probably obtained it through living in the wild. Dogs also have a trait such as one of the senses that humans, smell. They can smell food from a mile away, you know? so I wouldn't think it would need to know if it can eat a piece of meat or not. The dog was just driven by it's sense of smell and that leads to smelling like food.

XeliN

United Kingdom1755 Posts

May 21 2010 07:13 GMT

Everytime you do something, does your thought process work in the form of a monologue such as,

"I am walking downstairs, because I am hungry and wish to make a sandwhich, once I have made the sandwhich I will eat it to satisfy my hunger. "Oh" the doorbell has been rung, I had better answer it to see who is there...."

Basically I think (and I do so wordlessly!) that we often think without using language in our minds all the time.

omninmo

2349 Posts

May 21 2010 07:15 GMT

you make numerous unfounded claims, such as:

"We think in words, even when we are the most emotional, we convey our emotions into words in our head."

"[dogs] dont have the ability to think food"

if dogs dont think in words then he surely didnt, as you put it "think" "oh "lunchmeat", "tasty", "i" "will" "eat" "it".

that is why you are confused

you are just thinking about thinking which is normal for those who tend to look up instead of down. there are answers but if i told you it would be less advantageous than if you found out yourself. if metaphysics becomes to troublesome then you can even create myths to explain these mysteries.

this is how the many deal with these problems.

Rekrul

Korea (South)17174 Posts

May 21 2010 07:17 GMT

just because the human mind attaches a word or meaning to an impulse or observation does not mean animals have to to feel the same impulse or make the same observation

deth

Australia1757 Posts

May 21 2010 07:26 GMT

Its funny you ask this question in english, but people from other cultures can ask the same question using different symbols.

It really comes down to the fact that essentially, we think in images. Humans have evolved to the point where we organize images in complex structures and languages, making many forms of communication possible. Its a pretty safe bet that dogs think using mental images as well, but the way they interpret 'signifiers' with their minds' 'signified' is different to ours.

InfeSteD

United States4658 Posts

May 21 2010 07:29 GMT

what you really thought was, "Fuck! my fuckin dog ate my fuckin lumch meat... fuuuuuu"

IskatuMesk

Canada969 Posts

May 21 2010 08:16 GMT

#10

I think in sound mostly, not words. Sound as in raw sound or music. It's a bit much to describe, really. It probably has to do with me being batshit insane and brain damaged.

I can associate sounds to imagery without using verbal language as a translation device. It's largely in part how I visualize aspects of my novel before writing. The problem is taking that potent immersion and then dumbing it back down into English. It's a lot harder than it sounds like.

KarlSberg~

731 Posts

May 21 2010 09:10 GMT

#11

Words help manipulate some complex ideas and communicate them. They are necessary for some kind of reasoning. But I'm pretty sure when you drop a piece of meat you don't mentally verbalize it into "Oh I dropped a piece of meat which I would have liked to eat". Most likely just into "Fuck!"

I don't think you mentally put ideas into words that much, but if you just start wondering about it, you can't help doing it for everything.

spinesheath

Germany8679 Posts

May 21 2010 09:21 GMT

#12

Who says that animals don't think in "words"? There is no way to tell if they have a "thinking language" that they could use.

I'm not always thinking in words either, sometimes it's images or sounds, sometimes it's not even something I can describe. I am sometimes thinking in German, but increasingly often I am thinking in English too. So that tells me that it is possibly to think in various "languages", which might not always have to be languages that can be expressed through speech.

Yggdrasil Leaf

221 Posts

May 21 2010 09:24 GMT

#13

There's certainly more going on inside our bodies than just words, even if you are used to interpret it with a particular kind of words.

Scias

United States148 Posts

May 21 2010 10:26 GMT

#14

On May 21 2010 16:01 CaucasianAsian wrote:
So I was making a sandwich and i dropped a piece of lunch meat on the floor. My dog got up from where she was laying and ate it off the floor.

What thought through my dogs head would tell her to eat it?

As I have thought in language for as long as I can remember, i think it's crazy how my dog knew 'oh lunchmeat. looks tastey. i'll eat it."

But they don't have the ability to think "food".

We think in words, even when we are the most emotional, we convey our emotions into words in our head.

How does thought processes work when no language takes place?

For instance for a new born baby. How do they think? They can't think "holy shit i'm free. fuck i have to breathe'. They just act and yet their mind is still pulling thoughts and constructing ideas. HOW?

I don't know if this makes sense at all. Oh well.

re your last question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Respiratory_center

this sounds like a post from the high thread lolol

Scias

United States148 Posts

May 21 2010 10:27 GMT

#15

anyways a lot of your questions are related to the autonomic nervous system. maybe you should take a class on it

micronesia

United States24753 Posts

May 21 2010 10:49 GMT

#16

Yeah you probably aren't right that we think in words... although we obviously can.

Meta-cognition yay!

meteorskunk

Canada546 Posts

May 21 2010 13:03 GMT

#17

If we thought in words all of the time we'd be pretty bad thinkers... Its like reading out loud... and then listening to yourself to process it. instead of just thinking it