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Author Kubinyi, E.; Topál, J.; Miklósi, Á.; Csányi, V. doi  openurl
  Title 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 (down) 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 Soproni, K.; Miklósi, Á.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  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 (down) 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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  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 Soproni, K.; Miklósi, A.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title 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 (down) 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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  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 Miklósi, Á.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Comparative social cognition: what can dogs teach us? Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume (down) 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 Virányi, Z.; Topál, J.; Gácsi, M.; Miklósi, Á.; Csányi, V. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Dogs respond appropriately to cues of humans' attentional focus Type Journal Article
  Year 2004 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal Behav. Process.  
  Volume (down) 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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  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 Pongrácz, P.; Miklósi, Á.; Kubinyi, E.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  openurl
  Title Interaction between individual experience and social learning in dogs Type Journal Article
  Year 2003 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume (down) 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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Author Pongrácz, P.; Miklósi, Á.; Kubinyi, E.; Gurobi, K.; Topál, J.; Csányi, V. url  doi
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  Title Social learning in dogs: the effect of a human demonstrator on the performance of dogs in a detour task Type Journal Article
  Year 2001 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume (down) 62 Issue 6 Pages 1109-1117  
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  Abstract We recorded the behaviour of dogs in detour tests, in which an object (a favourite toy) or food was placed behind a V-shaped fence. Dogs were able to master this task; however, they did it more easily when they started from within the fence with the object placed outside it. Repeated detours starting from within the fence did not help the dogs to obtain the object more quickly if in a subsequent trial they started outside the fence with the object placed inside it. While six trials were not enough for the dogs to show significant improvement on their own in detouring the fence from outside, demonstration of this action by humans significantly improved the dogs' performance within two-three trials. Owners and strangers were equally effective as demonstrators. Our experiments show that dogs are able to rely on information provided by human action when confronted with a new task. While they did not copy the exact path of the human demonstrator, they easily adopted the detour behaviour shown by humans to reach their goal.  
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  Call Number refbase @ user @ Serial 847  
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Author Miklósi, Á.; Kubinyi, E.; Topál, J.; Gácsi, M.; Virányi, Z.; Csányi, V. url  doi
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  Title 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 (down) 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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  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4966  
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Author Gácsi, M.; Kara, E.; Belényi, B.; Topál, J.; Miklósi, Á. url  doi
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  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 (down) 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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  ISSN 1435-9456 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:19130102 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4969  
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Author Topál, J.; Byrne, R.W.; Miklósi, Á.; Csányi, V. doi  openurl
  Title Reproducing human actions and action sequences: “Do as I Do!” in a dog Type Journal Article
  Year 2006 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim. Cogn.  
  Volume (down) 9 Issue 4 Pages 355-367  
  Keywords Animals; *Comprehension; Conditioning, Operant; *Discrimination Learning; Dogs/*psychology; Humans; *Imitative Behavior; Male; *Serial Learning  
  Abstract We present evidence that a dog (Philip, a 4-year-old tervueren) was able to use different human actions as samples against which to match his own behaviour. First, Philip was trained to repeat nine human-demonstrated actions on command ('Do it!'). When his performance was markedly over chance in response to demonstration by one person, testing with untrained action sequences and other demonstrators showed some ability to generalise his understanding of copying. In a second study, we presented Philip with a sequence of human actions, again using the 'Do as I do' paradigm. All demonstrated actions had basically the same structure: the owner picked up a bottle from one of six places; transferred it to one of the five other places and then commanded the dog ('Do it!'). We found that Philip duplicated the entire sequence of moving a specific object from one particular place to another more often than expected by chance. Although results point to significant limitations in his imitative abilities, it seems that the dog could have recognized the action sequence, on the basis of observation alone, in terms of the initial state, the means, and the goal. This suggests that dogs might acquire abilities by observation that enhance their success in complex socio-behavioural situations.  
  Address Comparative Ethology Research Group, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Pazmany, P. 1/c H-1117, Hungary. kea@t-online.hu  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
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  Notes PMID:17024511 Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 2434  
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