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Author Virányi, Z.; Topál, J.; Miklósi, Á.; Csányi, V. doi  openurl
  Title (up) A nonverbal test of knowledge attribution: a comparative study on dogs and children Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 9 Issue 1 Pages 13-26  
  Keywords Animals; *Child Psychology; Child, Preschool; Cues; Dogs/*psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Nonverbal Communication; *Problem Solving; Species Specificity  
  Abstract The sensitivity of eleven pet dogs and eleven 2.5-year-old children to others' past perceptual access was tested for object-specificity in a playful, nonverbal task in which a human Helper's knowledge state regarding the whereabouts of a hidden toy and a stick (a tool necessary for getting the out-of-reach toy) was systematically manipulated. In the four experimental conditions the Helper either participated or was absent during hiding of the toy and the stick and therefore she knew the place(s) of (1) both the toy and the stick, (2) only the toy, (3) only the stick or (4) neither of them. The subjects observed the hiding processes, but they could not reach the objects, so they had to involve the Helper to retrieve the toy. The dogs were more inclined to signal the place of the toy in each condition and indicated the location of the stick only sporadically. However the children signalled both the location of the toy and that of the stick in those situations when the Helper had similar knowledge regarding the whereabouts of them (i.e. knew or ignored both of them), and in those conditions in which the Helper was ignorant of the whereabouts of only one object the children indicated the place of this object more often than that of the known one. At the same time however, both dogs and children signalled the place of the toy more frequently if the Helper had been absent during toy-hiding compared to those conditions when she had participated in the hiding. Although this behaviour appears to correspond with the Helper's knowledge state, even the subtle distinction made by the children can be interpreted without a casual understanding of knowledge-formation in others.  
  Address Department of Ethology, ELTE University Budapest, Pazmany P. setany 1/C H-1117, Hungary. zsofi.viranyi@freemail.hu  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes PMID:15895261 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2486  
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Author Miklósi, Á.; Kubinyi, E.; Topál, J.; Gácsi, M.; Virányi, Z.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title (up) A Simple Reason for a Big Difference: Wolves Do Not Look Back at Humans, but Dogs Do Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Current Biology Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 13 Issue 9 Pages 763-766  
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  Abstract The present investigations were undertaken to compare interspecific communicative abilities of dogs and wolves, which were socialized to humans at comparable levels. The first study demonstrated that socialized wolves were able to locate the place of hidden food indicated by the touching and, to some extent, pointing cues provided by the familiar human experimenter, but their performance remained inferior to that of dogs. In the second study, we have found that, after undergoing training to solve a simple manipulation task, dogs that are faced with an insoluble version of the same problem look/gaze at the human, while socialized wolves do not. Based on these observations, we suggest that the key difference between dog and wolf behavior is the dogs' ability to look at the human's face. Since looking behavior has an important function in initializing and maintaining communicative interaction in human communication systems, we suppose that by positive feedback processes (both evolutionary and ontogenetically) the readiness of dogs to look at the human face has lead to complex forms of dog-human communication that cannot be achieved in wolves even after extended socialization.  
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  ISSN 0960-9822 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4966  
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Author Gácsi, M.; Miklósi, Á.; Varga, O.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. doi  openurl
  Title (up) Are readers of our face readers of our minds? Dogs (Canis familiaris) show situation-dependent recognition of human's attention Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 7 Issue 3 Pages 144-153  
  Keywords Animals; Association Learning; *Attention; Bonding, Human-Pet; Cognition; *Concept Formation; Cues; Dogs/*psychology; *Facial Expression; Female; Humans; Male; *Nonverbal Communication; *Recognition (Psychology); Social Behavior  
  Abstract The ability of animals to use behavioral/facial cues in detection of human attention has been widely investigated. In this test series we studied the ability of dogs to recognize human attention in different experimental situations (ball-fetching game, fetching objects on command, begging from humans). The attentional state of the humans was varied along two variables: (1) facing versus not facing the dog; (2) visible versus non-visible eyes. In the first set of experiments (fetching) the owners were told to take up different body positions (facing or not facing the dog) and to either cover or not cover their eyes with a blindfold. In the second set of experiments (begging) dogs had to choose between two eating humans based on either the visibility of the eyes or direction of the face. Our results show that the efficiency of dogs to discriminate between “attentive” and “inattentive” humans depended on the context of the test, but they could rely on the orientation of the body, the orientation of the head and the visibility of the eyes. With the exception of the fetching-game situation, they brought the object to the front of the human (even if he/she turned his/her back towards the dog), and preferentially begged from the facing (or seeing) human. There were also indications that dogs were sensitive to the visibility of the eyes because they showed increased hesitative behavior when approaching a blindfolded owner, and they also preferred to beg from the person with visible eyes. We conclude that dogs are able to rely on the same set of human facial cues for detection of attention, which form the behavioral basis of understanding attention in humans. Showing the ability of recognizing human attention across different situations dogs proved to be more flexible than chimpanzees investigated in similar circumstances.  
  Address Comparative Ethology Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pazmany P. 1/c., 1117, Budapest, Hungary. gm.art@axelero.hu  
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  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:14669075 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2547  
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Author Miklósi, Á.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title (up) Comparative social cognition: what can dogs teach us? Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 67 Issue 6 Pages 995-1004  
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  Abstract Research in comparative social cognition addresses how challenges of social living have formed the cognitive structures that control behaviours involved in communication, social learning and social understanding. In contrast to the traditional psychological approach, recent investigations take both evolutionary and functional questions into account, but the main emphasis is still on the mechanisms of behaviour. Although in traditional research `comparative' meant mainly comparisons between humans and other primates, ethological influences have led to a broadening of the spectrum of species under study. In this review, we evaluated how the study of dogs broadens our understanding of comparative social cognition. In the early days of ethology, dogs enjoyed considerable interest from ethologists, but during the last 20 years, dogs have rarely been studied by ethological methods. Through a complex evolutionary process, dogs became adapted for living in human society; therefore, the human environment and social setting now represents a natural ecological niche for this species. We have evidence that dogs have been selected for adaptations to human social life, and that these adaptations have led to marked changes in their communicative, social, cooperative and attachment behaviours towards humans. Until now, the study of dogs was hindered by the view that they represent an `artificial' species, but by accepting that dogs are adapted to their niche, as are other `natural' species, comparative investigations can be put into new light.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 406  
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Author Soproni, K.; Miklósi, A.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title (up) Comprehension of human communicative signs in pet dogs (Canis familiaris) Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Journal of Comparative Psychology (Washington, D.C. : 1983) Abbreviated Journal J Comp Psychol  
  Volume 115 Issue 2 Pages 122-126  
  Keywords Animals; *Behavior, Animal; Choice Behavior; Dogs/*psychology; Female; Humans; Male; Nonverbal Communication/*psychology; *Recognition (Psychology); *Social Behavior  
  Abstract On the basis of a study by D. J. Povinelli, D. T. Bierschwale, and C. G. Cech (1999), the performance of family dogs (Canis familiaris) was examined in a 2-way food choice task in which 4 types of directional cues were given by the experimenter: pointing and gazing, head-nodding (“at target”), head turning above the correct container (“above target”), and glancing only (“eyes only”). The results showed that the performance of the dogs resembled more closely that of the children in D. J. Povinelli et al.'s study, in contrast to the chimpanzees' performance in the same study. It seems that dogs, like children, interpret the test situation as being a form of communication. The hypothesis is that this similarity is attributable to the social experience and acquired social routines in dogs because they spend more time in close contact with humans than apes do, and as a result dogs are probably more experienced in the recognition of human gestures.  
  Address Department of Ethology, Budapest, Hungary. lavina@ludens.elte.hu  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11459158 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4963  
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Author Kubinyi, E.; Topál, J.; Miklósi, Á.; Csányi, V. doi  openurl
  Title (up) Dogs (Canis familiaris) learn their owners via observation in a manipulation task. Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Journal of Comparative Psychology Abbreviated Journal J. Comp. Psychol.  
  Volume 117 Issue 2 Pages 156-165  
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  Abstract Eighty-seven pet dogs (Canis familiaris) were involved in an experiment in which they had to solve a task to obtain a ball. After witnessing a full demonstration by their owner (10 times pushing the handle of the box, which released a ball), most dogs preferred to touch the handle sooner and more frequently in comparison with other parts of the box, and they used the handle to get the ball. In contrast dogs in 3 control groups developed their own respective methods. The lack of emergence of the ball and playing after the demonstration did not affect the learning performance strongly. This suggests that in dogs the outcome of a demonstration plays only a restricted role in the manifestation of social learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5210  
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Author Virányi, Z.; Topál, J.; Gácsi, M.; Miklósi, Á.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title (up) Dogs respond appropriately to cues of humans' attentional focus Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume 66 Issue 2 Pages 161-172  
  Keywords Animals; *Attention; Bonding, Human-Pet; Communication; *Cues; Dogs; Humans; Recognition (Psychology)  
  Abstract Dogs' ability to recognise cues of human visual attention was studied in different experiments. Study 1 was designed to test the dogs' responsiveness to their owner's tape-recorded verbal commands (Down!) while the Instructor (who was the owner of the dog) was facing either the dog or a human partner or none of them, or was visually separated from the dog. Results show that dogs were more ready to follow the command if the Instructor attended them during instruction compared to situations when the Instructor faced the human partner or was out of sight of the dog. Importantly, however, dogs showed intermediate performance when the Instructor was orienting into 'empty space' during the re-played verbal commands. This suggests that dogs are able to differentiate the focus of human attention. In Study 2 the same dogs were offered the possibility to beg for food from two unfamiliar humans whose visual attention (i.e. facing the dog or turning away) was systematically varied. The dogs' preference for choosing the attentive person shows that dogs are capable of using visual cues of attention to evaluate the human actors' responsiveness to solicit food-sharing. The dogs' ability to understand the communicatory nature of the situations is discussed in terms of their social cognitive skills and unique evolutionary history.  
  Address Department of Ethology, Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary. zsofi.viranyi@freemail.hu  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:15110918 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4957  
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Author Soproni, K.; Miklósi, Á.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title (up) 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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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0735-7036 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:11926681 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4962  
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Author Miklósi, A.'.; Polgárdi, R.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. doi  openurl
  Title (up) Intentional behaviour in dog-human communication: an experimental analysis of “showing” behaviour in the dog Type Journal Article
  Year 2000 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume 3 Issue 3 Pages 159-166  
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  Abstract Despite earlier scepticism there is now evidence for simple forms of intentional and functionally referential communication in many animal species. Here we investigate whether dogs engage in functional referential communication with their owners. “Showing” is defined as a communicative action consisting of both a directional component related to an external target and an attention-getting component that directs the attention of the perceiver to the informer or sender. In our experimental situation dogs witness the hiding of a piece of food (or a favourite toy) which they cannot get access to. We asked whether dogs would engage in “showing” in the presence of their owner. To control for the motivational effects of both the owner and the food on the dogs' behaviour, control observations were also staged where only the food (or the toy) or the owner was present. Dogs' gazing frequency at both the food (toy) and the owner was greater when only one of these was present. In other words, dogs looked more frequently at their owner when the food (toy) was present, and they looked more at the location of the food (toy) when the owner was present. When both the food (toy) and the owner were present a new behaviour, “gaze alternation”, emerged which was defined as changing the direction of the gaze from the location of the food (toy) to looking at the owner (or vice versa) within 2 s. Vocalisations that occurred in this phase were always associated with gazing at the owner or the location of the food. This behaviour, which was specific to this situation, has also been described in chimpanzees, a gorilla and humans, and has often been interpreted as a form of functionally referential communication. Based on our observations we argue that dogs might be able to engage in functionally referential communication with their owner, and their behaviour could be described as a form of “showing”. The contribution of domestication and individual learning to the well-developed communicative skills in dogs is discussed and will be the subject of further studies.  
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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 3274  
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Author Pongrácz, P.; Miklósi, Á.; Kubinyi, E.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  openurl
  Title (up) Interaction between individual experience and social learning in dogs Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 65 Issue 3 Pages 595-603  
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  Abstract We investigated the interaction between individual experience and social learning in domestic dogs,Canis familiaris . We conducted two experiments using detour tests, where an object or food was placed behind a transparent, V-shaped wire-mesh fence, such that the dogs could get the reward by going around the fence. In some groups, two open doors were offered as an alternative, easier way to reach the reward. In experiment 1 we opened the doors only in trial 1, then closed them for trials 2 and 3. In experiment 2 other dogs were first taught to detour the fence with closed doors after they had observed a detouring human demonstrator, then we opened the doors for three subsequent trials. In experiment 1 all dogs reached the reward by going through the doors in trial 1, but their detouring performance was poor after the doors had been closed, if they had to solve the task on their own. However, dogs in the experimental group that were allowed to watch a detouring human demonstrator after the doors had been closed showed improved detouring ability compared with those that did not receive a demonstration of detouring. In experiment 2 the dogs tended to keep on detouring along the fence even if the doors had been opened, giving up a chance to get behind the fence by a shorter route. These results show that dogs can use information gained by observing a human demonstrator to overcome their own mistakenly preferred solution in a problem situation. In a reversed situation social learning can also contribute to a preference for a less adaptive behaviour. However, only repeated individual and social experience leads to a durable manifestation of maladaptive behaviour. Copyright 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 565  
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