Comparative Cognition Lab @ UC San Diego

Founded by @RossanoFederico - We are a research lab at UC San Diego, dedicated to exploring human cognition, how it develops & its evolutionary origins.

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

I’m excited to share that @CCLABUCSD is hosting the 2nd annual Detection Dog Trials at UC San Diego on Sunday, March 1, 2026. This is a free, professionally judged event for professional detection dog handler teams (law enforcement and military).

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

📷
Today at 9pm ET/PT is the US premiere of the @novapbs documentary "Can Dogs Talk?". It covers the project @CCLABUCSD has been running with thousands of button trained dogs. It is a true honor to be on NOVA and we hope you will find it engaging: https://t.co/0SYnK2ZOnO

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

A brief extract from a fun livestream with awesome colleagues hosted by @valuskaa84, organized by
@TempletonWorld and @Purina. Let's give non-human animals a real chance to show us how intelligent they are. We can only benefit from engaging with nature with an open mind.

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

And if you want to join our citizen science study, you can sign up here: https://t.co/9v8wVMi0hK
@UCSanDiego

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

If you want to know more about the research, you can check out this online lecture: https://t.co/8OT7PQBiiQ

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

On September 28th at 18:30 the French language premiere of the documentary "Can dogs talk?" will air on @CBCRadioCanada Découverte
@CCLABUCSD work on soundboard trained dogs is a central piece of this documentary. English versions will air on PBS NOVA and CBC in early 2026

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

I had the most wonderful time presenting @CCLABUCSD current progress on this project to the amazing @Interspecies_io community! If you could not attend but are interested in finding out more about our work, check out the lecture here: https://t.co/8OT7PQBiiQ

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

Thank you so much for the invitation! Very much looking forward to giving the talk and engaging with your community!

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

Today (April 30th) is 🔱 #TritonGivingDay Please donate to support the students in the Comparative Cognition Lab studying 10,000 pets from 47 countries in the largest Animal Communication study ever attempted! We need your help! This is Parker https://t.co/PyqWEnzMo8 @UCSDalumni

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

Thank you @UC_Newsroom for creating this informative and even handed representation of the challenges and opinions around pets pushing buttons to communicate with humans. See below a few papers we published. We have 3 more on the way (one about cats)
https://t.co/uH4J4KwtSw

[Comparative Cognition Lab @ UC San Diego @CCLABUCSD]

Less than a week away from our first ever Detection Dog Trials event with MAN-K9! We hope to see you there! 🐕🐾

[Comparative Cognition Lab @ UC San Diego @CCLABUCSD]

‼️The CCL at UCSD is hosting the first-ever Detection Dog Trials in collaboration with MAN-K9! Join us March 8-9th to compete for trophies & prizes, contribute to scientific research, and showcase your dog’s scent detection skills!
Learn more & register: https://t.co/OdBFzgxAD3

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

The scent detection dog trials will take place on March 8th-9th in La Jolla (CA) at @UCSanDiego. Professionals and civilians will be competing on different days, judged by professional judges and receiving prizes. This is going to be a one of a kind event!

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

@CCLABUCSD is delighted to move into the amazing realm of working dogs and highly trained family dogs. This event will help us develop new tools to better assess and improve dog-handler communication and bond. Sign up here: https://t.co/sjVTTlnZa1 and please RT @UCSDalumni

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

“The basic reasons why most people use language are the same reasons why most animals communicate.”

@RossanoFederico explains the blurry line between human language and animal communication on “Babbage” https://t.co/KoXv6L1W7V 🎧

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

Thank you for the opportunity!
And if people are interested in signing up for the study they can look for more info and sign up here: https://t.co/9v8wVMhssc

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

On “Babbage” this week, the first episode in a two-part series that explores animal communication and efforts to translate it in the age of AI https://t.co/SP7i1MqIol 🎧

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

A few days ago I was asked by @kncukier "whether language is a cognitive ability that’s unique to humans, or just one of many modes of communication dotted across the tree of life". You can hear the conversation that followed here. Stay tuned for the second episode.

[Comparative Cognition Lab @ UC San Diego @CCLABUCSD]

‼️The CCL at UCSD is hosting the first-ever Detection Dog Trials in collaboration with MAN-K9! Join us March 8-9th to compete for trophies & prizes, contribute to scientific research, and showcase your dog’s scent detection skills!
Learn more & register: https://t.co/OdBFzgxAD3

[Federico Rossano @RossanoFederico]

Thank you so much @svignieri and @ScienceMagazine for the shout out!
https://t.co/njREueDjyE