Records |
Author |
Gácsi, M.; Kara, E.; Belényi, B.; Topál, J.; Miklósi, Á. |
Title |
The effect of development and individual differences in pointing comprehension of dogs |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2009 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
12 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
471-479 |
Keywords |
Age Factors; Analysis of Variance; Animals; *Association Learning; Attention; Chi-Square Distribution; Choice Behavior; *Comprehension; *Concept Formation; Dogs/*psychology; Female; *Gestures; Humans; Male; Orientation; Statistics, Nonparametric |
Abstract |
In spite of the rather different procedures actually used in comparative studies to test the ability of different species to rely on the human pointing gesture, there is no debate on the high performance of dogs in such tasks. Very little is known, however, on the course through which they acquire this ability or the probable factors influencing the process. Important developmental questions have remained unsolved and also some methodological concerns should be addressed before we can convincingly argue for one interpretation or another. In this study we tested 180 dogs of different age (from 2 months to adults) to investigate their performance in the human distal momentary pointing gesture. The results, analyzed at both the group and the individual levels, showed no difference in the performance according to age, indicating that in dogs the comprehension of the human pointing may require only very limited and rapid early learning to fully develop. Interestingly, neither the keeping conditions nor the time spent in active interaction with the owner, and not even some special (agility) training for using human visual cues, had significant effect on the success and explained individual differences. The performance of the dogs was rather stable over time: during the 20 trials within a session and even when subsamples of different age were repeatedly tested. Considering that in spite of the general success at the group level, more than half of the dogs were not successful at the individual level, we revealed alternative “decision-making rules” other than following the pointing gesture of the experimenter. |
Address |
Department of Ethology, Eotvos University, Budapest, Hungary. gm.art@t-online.hu |
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1435-9456 |
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PMID:19130102 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4969 |
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Author |
Bräuer, J.; Call, J.; Tomasello, M. |
Title |
Visual perspective taking in dogs (Canis familiaris) in the presence of barriers |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
Volume |
88 |
Issue |
3-4 |
Pages |
299-317 |
Keywords |
Dogs; Visual perspective taking; Metacognition |
Abstract |
Previous studies have shown that dogs have developed a special sensitivity to the communicative signals and attentional states of humans. The aim of the current study was to further investigate what dogs know about the visual perception of humans and themselves. In the first two experiments we investigated whether dogs were sensitive to the properties of barriers as blocking the visual access of humans. We presented dogs with a situation in which a human forbade them to take a piece of food, but the type and orientation of the barrier allowed the dog to take the food undetected in some conditions. Dogs differentiated between effective and ineffective barriers, based on their orientation or the particular features of the barriers such as size or the presence of window. In the third study we investigated whether dogs know about what they themselves have seen. We presented subjects with two boxes and placed food in one of them. In the Seen condition the location of the food was shown to the dogs while in the Unseen condition dogs were prevented from seeing the destination of the food. Before selecting one of the boxes by pressing a lever, dogs had the opportunity to seek extra information regarding the contents of the boxes, which would be particularly useful in the condition in which they had not seen where the food was hidden. Dogs rarely used the opportunity to seek information about the contents of the box before making their choice in any condition. Therefore, we found no evidence suggesting that dogs have access to what they themselves have seen, which contrasts with the positive evidence about visual perspective taking in others from the first two experiments and previous studies. |
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0168-1591 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4986 |
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Author |
Gaunet, F. |
Title |
How do guide dogs and pet dogs (Canis familiaris) ask their owners for their toy and for playing? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2010 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
13 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
311-323 |
Keywords |
Dog – Deictic behaviour – Intentional communication – Guide dogs – Socialisation – Play – Social cognition |
Abstract |
Abstract When apes are not fully understood by humans, they persist with attempts to communicate, elaborating their behaviours to better convey their meaning. Such abilities have never been investigated in dogs. The present study aimed to clarify any effect of the visual attentional state of the owner on dogs’ (Canis familiaris) social-communicative signals for interacting with humans, and to determine whether dogs persist and elaborate their behaviour in the face of failure to communicate a request. Gaze at a hidden target or at the owner, gaze alternation between a hidden target and the owner, vocalisations and contacts in 12 guide and 12 pet dogs were analysed (i) when the dogs were asked by their owners (blind or sighted) to fetch their inaccessible toy and (ii) when the dogs were subsequently given an unfamiliar object (apparent unsuccessful communication) or their toy (apparent successful communication). No group differences were found, indicating no effect of the visual status of the owner on the dogs’ socio-communicative modes (i.e. no sensitivity to human visual attention). Results, however, suggest that the dogs exhibited persistence (but not elaboration) in their “showing” behaviours in each condition, except that in which the toy was returned. Thus, their communication was about a specific item in space (the toy). The results suggest that dogs possess partially intentional non-verbal deictic abilities: (i) to get their inaccessible toy, the dogs gazed at their owners as if to trigger their attention; gaze alternation between the owner and the target direction, and two behaviours directed at the target were performed, apparently to indicate the location of the hidden toy; (ii) after the delivery of the toy, the dogs behaved as if they returned to the play routine, gazing at their owner whilst holding their toy. In conclusion, this study shows that dogs possess partially intentional non-verbal deictic abilities: they exhibit successive visual orienting between a partner and objects, apparent attention-getting behaviours, no sensitivity to the visual status of humans for communication, and persistence in (but no elaboration of) communicative behaviours when apparent attempts to “manipulate” the human partner fail. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5113 |
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Author |
Adler, L.L.; Adler, H.E. |
Title |
Ontogeny of observational learning in the dog (Canis familiaris) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
1977 |
Publication |
Developmental Psychobiology |
Abbreviated Journal |
Dev Psychobiol |
Volume |
10 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
267-271 |
Keywords |
Animals; Dogs/*physiology; Female; Learning/*physiology; Male; Vision, Ocular/physiology |
Abstract |
A split-litter technique was used to test observational learning in 4 litters of Miniature Dachshund puppies, 21, 28, 38, and 60 days old at the beginning of the experiment. In one side of a duplicate cage, one puppy of a litter, the demonstrator, learned to pull in a food cart on a runner by means of a ribbon, while another puppy, the observer, watched from an adjacent compartment, separated by a wire screen. Observational learning was demonstrated by the saving in time for the 1st trial when the observer was given the same problem to solve. Maturation, particularly the development of visual function and motor coordination, set a lower age limit for the emergence of observational learning. |
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0012-1630 |
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PMID:863122 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
5186 |
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Author |
Horn, L.; Range, F.; Huber, L. |
Title |
Dogs’ attention towards humans depends on their relationship, not only on social familiarity |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2013 |
Publication |
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Abbreviated Journal |
Animal Cognition |
Volume |
16 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
435-443 |
Keywords |
Domestic dogs; Social attention; Social familiarity; Dog–human relationship |
Abstract |
Both in humans and non-human animals, it has been shown that individuals attend more to those they have previously interacted with and/or they are more closely associated with than to unfamiliar individuals. Whether this preference is mediated by mere social familiarity based on exposure or by the specific relationship between the two individuals, however, remains unclear. The domestic dog is an interesting subject in this line of research as it lives in the human environment and regularly interacts with numerous humans, yet it often has a particularly close relationship with its owner. Therefore, we investigated how long dogs (Canis familiaris) would attend to the actions of two familiar humans and one unfamiliar experimenter, while varying whether dogs had a close relationship with only one or both familiar humans. Our data provide evidence that social familiarity by itself cannot account for dogs’ increased attention towards their owners since they only attended more to those familiar humans with whom they also had a close relationship. |
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Springer-Verlag |
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1435-9448 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5667 |
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Author |
Osthaus, B.; Proops, L.; Hocking, I.; Burden, F. |
Title |
Spatial cognition and perseveration by horses, donkeys and mules in a simple A-not-B detour task |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2013 |
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Animal Cognition |
Volume |
16 |
Issue |
2 |
Pages |
301-305 |
Keywords |
Equids; Donkeys; Horses; Mules; Dogs; Detour; Spatial reasoning; A-not-B; Perseveration |
Abstract |
We investigated perseveration and detour behaviour in 36 equids (Equus caballus, E. asinus, E. caballus × E. asinus) and compared these data to those of a previous study on domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). The animals were required to make a detour through a gap at one end of a straight barrier in order to reach a visible target. After one, two, three or four repeats (A trials), the gap was moved to the opposite end of the barrier (B trials). We recorded initial deviations from the correct solution path and the latency to crossing the barrier. In the A trials, mules crossed the barrier significantly faster than their parental species, the horses and donkeys. In the B trials, following the change of gap location, all species showed a reduction in performance. Both dogs and horses exhibited significant spatial perseveration, going initially to the previous gap location. Donkeys and mules, however, performed at chance level. Our results suggest that hybrid vigour in mules extends to spatial abilities. |
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Springer-Verlag |
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1435-9448 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5694 |
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Author |
Siniscalchi, M.; McFarlane, J.R.; Kauter, K.G.; Quaranta, A.; Rogers, L.J. |
Title |
Cortisol levels in hair reflect behavioural reactivity of dogs to acoustic stimuli |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2013 |
Publication |
Research in Veterinary Science |
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94 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
49-54 |
Keywords |
Dogs; Behaviour; Cortisol; Hair; Acoustic stimuli |
Abstract |
Cortisol levels in hair samples were examined in fourteen domestic dogs and related to the dogs’ responses to different acoustic stimuli. Stimuli were playbacks of species-typical vocalizations recorded during three different situations (“disturbance”, “isolation” and “play” barks) and the sounds of a thunderstorm. Hair samples were collected at 9:00 h and 17:00 h two weeks after the behavioural tests. Results showed that behavioural reactivity to playback of the various stimuli correlates with cortisol levels in hair samples collected at 9:00 h, and the same was the case for the separate measures of behaviour (i.e. hiding, running away, seeking attention from the tester, panting and lowering of the body posture). Hence, levels of cortisol in hair appear to reflect the dog’s chronic state of emotional reactivity, or temperament. |
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0034-5288 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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5833 |
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