Records |
Author |
West, R.E.; Young, R.J. |
Title |
Do domestic dogs show any evidence of being able to count? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
5 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
183-186 |
Keywords |
Animal Feed; Animals; Behavior, Animal; *Cognition; *Dogs; Female; Male; *Mathematics; Reinforcement (Psychology); Visual Perception |
Abstract |
Numerical competence has been demonstrated in a wide range of animal species. The level of numerical abilities shown ranges from simple relative numerousness judgements to true counting. In this study we used the preferential looking technique to test whether 11 pet dogs could count. The dogs were presented with three simple calculations: “1+1=2”; “1+1=1”; and “1+1=3”. These calculations were performed by presenting the dogs with treats that were placed behind a screen that allowed manipulation of the outcome of the calculation. When the dogs expected the outcome they spent the same amount of time looking at the result of the calculation as they did on the initial presentation. However, when the result was unexpected dogs spent significantly longer looking at the outcome of the calculation. The results suggest that the dogs were anticipating the outcome of the calculations they observed, thus suggesting that dogs may have a rudimentary ability to count. |
Address |
De Montfort University-Lincoln, Caythorpe, Grantham, Lincolnshire, NG32 3EP, UK |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:12357291 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2594 |
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Author |
Milgram, N.W.; Head, E.; Muggenburg, B.; Holowachuk, D.; Murphey, H.; Estrada, J.; Ikeda-Douglas, C.J.; Zicker, S.C.; Cotman, C.W. |
Title |
Landmark discrimination learning in the dog: effects of age, an antioxidant fortified food, and cognitive strategy |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews |
Abbreviated Journal |
Neurosci Biobehav Rev |
Volume |
26 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
679-695 |
Keywords |
Age Factors; Aging/*physiology; Analysis of Variance; Animals; Antioxidants/*pharmacology; Blood Chemical Analysis/methods; Cognition/*physiology; *Diet; Discrimination Learning/*drug effects/*physiology; Distance Perception/drug effects/physiology; Dogs/physiology; Female; Male; Psychomotor Performance/physiology; Retention (Psychology)/drug effects/physiology; Spatial Behavior/*drug effects/*physiology; Task Performance and Analysis; Time Factors; Vitamin E/blood |
Abstract |
The landmark discrimination learning test can be used to assess the ability to utilize allocentric spatial information to locate targets. The present experiments examined the role of various factors on performance of a landmark discrimination learning task in beagle dogs. Experiments 1 and 2 looked at the effects of age and food composition. Experiments 3 and 4 were aimed at characterizing the cognitive strategies used in performance on this task and in long-term retention. Cognitively equivalent groups of old and young dogs were placed into either a test group maintained on food enriched with a broad-spectrum of antioxidants and mitochondrial cofactors, or a control group maintained on a complete and balanced food formulated for adult dogs. Following a wash-in period, the dogs were tested on a series of problems, in which reward was obtained when the animal responded selectively to the object closest to a thin wooden block, which served as a landmark. In Experiment 1, dogs were first trained to respond to a landmark placed directly on top of coaster, landmark 0 (L0). In the next phase of testing, the landmark was moved at successively greater distances (1, 4 or 10 cm) away from the reward object. Learning varied as a function of age group, food group, and task. The young dogs learned all of the tasks more quickly than the old dogs. The aged dogs on the enriched food learned L0 significantly more rapidly than aged dogs on control food. A higher proportion of dogs on the enriched food learned the task, when the distance was increased to 1cm. Experiment 2 showed that accuracy decreased with increased distance between the reward object and landmark, and this effect was greater in old animals. Experiment 3 showed stability of performance, despite using a novel landmark, and new locations, indicating that dogs learned the landmark concept. Experiment 4 found age impaired long-term retention of the landmark task. These results indicate that allocentric spatial learning is impaired in an age-dependent manner in dogs, and that age also affects performance when the distance between the landmark and target is increased. In addition, these results both support a role of oxidative damage in the development of age-associated cognitive dysfunction and indicate that short-term administration of a food enriched with supplemental antioxidants and mitochondrial cofactors can partially reverse the deleterious effects of aging on cognition. |
Address |
Life Science Division, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ont., Canada M1C 1A4. milgram@psych.utoronto.ca |
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0149-7634 |
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PMID:12479842 |
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no |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2806 |
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Author |
Soproni, K.; Miklósi, Á.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. |
Title |
Dogs' (Canis familiaris) responsiveness to human pointing gestures |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2002 |
Publication |
Journal of Comparative Psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
Volume |
116 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
27-34 |
Keywords |
Analysis of Variance; Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Choice Behavior; Dogs/*psychology; Female; Gestures; Male; *Recognition (Psychology); Species Specificity |
Abstract |
In a series of 3 experiments, dogs (Canis familiaris) were presented with variations of the human pointing gesture: gestures with reversed direction of movement, cross-pointing, and different arm extensions. Dogs performed at above chance level if they could see the hand (and index finger) protruding from the human body contour. If these minimum requirements were not accessible, dogs still could rely on the body position of the signaler. The direction of movement of the pointing arm did not influence the performance. In summary, these observations suggest that dogs are able to rely on relatively novel gestural forms of the human communicative pointing gesture and that they are able to comprehend to some extent the referential nature of human pointing. |
Address |
Department of Ethology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary. krisztinasoproni@hotmail.com |
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0735-7036 |
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PMID:11926681 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
4962 |
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Author |
Cooper, J.J.; Ashton, C.; Bishop, S.; West, R.; Mills, D.S.; Young, R.J. |
Title |
Clever hounds: social cognition in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris) |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
Volume |
81 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
229-244 |
Keywords |
Domestic dog; Canine; Social cognition; Counting; Theory of mind; Perspective taking |
Abstract |
This paper reviews the reasons why domestic dogs make good models to investigate cognitive processes related to social living and describes experimental approaches that can be adopted to investigate such processes in dogs. Domestic dogs are suitable models for investigating social cognition skills for three broad reasons. First, dogs originated from wolves, social animals that engage in a number of co-operative behaviours, such as hunting and that may have evolved cognitive abilities that help them predict and interpret the actions of other animals. Second, during domestication dogs are likely to have been selected for mental adaptations for their roles in human society such as herding or companionship. Third, domestic dogs live in a human world and “enculturation” may facilitate the development of relevant mental skills in dogs. Studies of social cognition in animals commonly use experimental paradigms originally developed for pre-verbal human infants. Preferential gaze, for example, can be used as a measure of attention or “surprise” in studies using expectancy violation. This approach has been used to demonstrate simple numerical competence in dogs. Dogs also readily use both conspecific and human social signals (e.g. looking or pointing) as information sources to locate hidden rewards such as food or favourite toys. Such abilities make dogs particularly good models for investigating perspective-taking tasks, where animals are required to discriminate between apparently knowledgeable and apparently ignorant informants. |
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refbase @ user @ |
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395 |
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Author |
Call, J.; Brauer, J.; Kaminski, J.; Tomasello, M. |
Title |
Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) are sensitive to the attentional state of humans |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Comp Psychol |
Volume |
117 |
Issue |
3 |
Pages |
257-263 |
Keywords |
Animals; *Appetitive Behavior; *Attention; *Bonding, Human-Pet; *Concept Formation; Cues; Dogs/*psychology; Female; Humans; *Inhibition (Psychology); Male; Nonverbal Communication |
Abstract |
Twelve domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) were given a series of trials in which they were forbidden to take a piece of visible food. In some trials, the human continued to look at the dog throughout the trial (control condition), whereas in others, the human (a) left the room, (b) turned her back, (c) engaged in a distracting activity, or (d) closed her eyes. Dogs behaved in clearly different ways in most of the conditions in which the human did not watch them compared with the control condition, in which she did. In particular, when the human looked at them, dogs retrieved less food, approached it in a more indirect way, and sat (as opposed to laid down) more often than in the other conditions. Results are discussed in terms of domestic dogs' social-cognitive skills and their unique evolutionary and ontogenetic histories. |
Address |
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany. call@eva.mpg.de |
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Washington, D.C. : 1983 |
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0735-7036 |
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PMID:14498801 |
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refbase @ user @ |
Serial |
713 |
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Author |
Hare, J.F.; Sealy, S.G.; Underwood, T.J.; Ellison, K.S.; Stewart, R.L.M. |
Title |
Evidence of self-referent phenotype matching revisited: airing out the armpit effect |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
6 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
65-68 |
Keywords |
Alleles; Animals; Birds; Cricetinae; Dogs; Humans; Invertebrates; Learning; *Odors; Pedigree; Phenotype; *Recognition (Psychology); Self Psychology; *Social Behavior |
Abstract |
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Address |
Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada. harejf@cc.umanitoba.ca |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:12701614 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2576 |
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Author |
Fiset, S.; Beaulieu, C.; Landry, F. |
Title |
Duration of dogs' (Canis familiaris) working memory in search for disappearing objects |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Animal Cognition |
Abbreviated Journal |
Anim. Cogn. |
Volume |
6 |
Issue |
1 |
Pages |
1-10 |
Keywords |
Animals; Dogs/*psychology; *Exploratory Behavior; Female; Male; *Memory; Visual Perception |
Abstract |
Two experiments explored the duration of dogs' working memory in an object permanence task: a delay was introduced between the disappearance of a moving object behind a box and the beginning of the search by the animal. In experiment 1, the dogs were tested with retention intervals of 0, 10, 30, and 60 s. Results revealed that the dogs' accuracy declined as a function of the length of the retention interval but remained above chance for each retention interval. In experiment 2, with new subjects, longer retention intervals (0, 30, 60, 120, and 240 s) were presented to the dogs. Results replicated findings from experiment 1 and revealed that the dogs' accuracy remained higher than chance level with delays up to 240 s. In both experiments, the analysis of errors also showed that the dogs searched as a function of the proximity of the target box and were not subject to intertrial proactive interference. In the discussion, we explore different alternatives to explain why dogs' search behaviour for hidden objects decreased as a function of the retention intervals. |
Address |
Secteur Sciences Humaines, Universite de Moncton, Campus d'Edmundston, E3V 2S8, Edmundston, New Brunswick, Canada. sfiset@umce.ca |
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1435-9448 |
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PMID:12658530 |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
Serial |
2586 |
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Author |
McKinley, S.; Young, R.J. |
Title |
The efficacy of the model-rival method when compared with operant conditioning for training domestic dogs to perform a retrieval-selection task |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2003 |
Publication |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Abbreviated Journal |
Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. |
Volume |
81 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
357-365 |
Keywords |
Dogs; Learning; Operant conditioning; Model-rival; Cognition |
Abstract |
Traditionally, dogs have been trained by operant conditioning techniques; that is, dogs make a desired behavioural response and this response is reinforced by a reward such as food. This type of training is very effective in training dogs to perform basic obedience behaviours (e.g. `stay'). However, dogs are social animals and should be predisposed to learn from social stimuli. In the present study, we used a modified version of the model-rival technique that has been extensively used in experiments investigating the cognitive ability of parrots. In this technique, social stimuli are used to create in the animal an interest in the object without the use of food or other rewards. Therefore, the animal learns the name of the object (intrinsic reward) and not that the object's name means food. In this experiment we compared the learning ability of nine pet dogs to solve the same retrieval-selection task having been previously trained using operant conditioning or model-rival techniques. The retrieval-selection task was the dogs had to correctly select the commanded object to bring to the experimenter from a group of three similar objects. The results show no difference in the speeds with which the dogs solved the test--demonstrating the efficacy of the model-rival method. This is the first time that the effectiveness of the model-rival technique has been experimentally demonstrated with dogs. Furthermore, we believe that the methodology reported in this paper has applications in dog training and in experiments into dog cognition. |
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Equine Behaviour @ team @ |
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2900 |
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Author |
Bloom, P. |
Title |
Behavior. Can a dog learn a word? |
Type |
Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Science (New York, N.Y.) |
Abbreviated Journal |
Science |
Volume |
304 |
Issue |
5677 |
Pages |
1605-1606 |
Keywords |
Animals; Child; Child, Preschool; *Dogs; Humans; *Learning; *Memory; *Vocabulary |
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Address |
Department of Psychology, Yale University, Post Office Box 208205, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA. paul.bloom@yale.edu |
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1095-9203 |
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PMID:15192205 |
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28 |
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Author |
Markman, E.M.; Abelev, M. |
Title |
Word learning in dogs? |
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Journal Article |
Year |
2004 |
Publication |
Trends in Cognitive Sciences |
Abbreviated Journal |
Trends. Cognit. Sci. |
Volume |
8 |
Issue |
11 |
Pages |
479-81; discussion 481 |
Keywords |
Animals; Association Learning; Dogs; *Learning; *Verbal Learning; *Vocabulary |
Abstract |
In a recent paper, Kaminski, Call and Fischer report pioneering research on word-learning in a dog. In this commentary we suggest ways of distinguishing referential word use from mere association. We question whether the dog is reasoning by exclusion and, if so, compare three explanations – learned heuristics, default assumptions, and pragmatic reasoning – as they apply to children and might apply to dogs. Kaminski et al.'s work clearly raises important questions about the origins and basis of word learning and social cognition. |
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Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Bldg 420, Stanford, CA 94305-2130, USA |
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1364-6613 |
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PMID:15491899 |
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refbase @ user @ |
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274 |
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