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Author Schmidt, J.; Scheid, C.; Kotrschal, K.; Bugnyar, T.; Schloegl, C. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Gaze direction – A cue for hidden food in rooks (Corvus frugilegus)? Type Journal Article
  Year 2011 Publication Behavioural Processes Abbreviated Journal  
  Volume 88 Issue 2 Pages 88-93  
  Keywords Gaze; Object choice; Corvids; Effort; Rooks  
  Abstract Other individual's head- and eye-directions can be used as social cues indicating the presence of important events. Among birds, ravens and rooks have been shown to co-orient with conspecifics and with humans by following their gaze direction into distant space and behind visual screens. Both species use screens to cache food in private; also, it had been suggested that they may rely on gaze cues to detect hidden food. However, in an object-choice task, ravens failed to do so, and their competitive lifestyle may have prevented them from relying on these cues. Here we tested closely related and cooperative rooks. Food was hidden in one of two cups and the experimenter gazed at the baited cup. In a second experiment, we aimed to increase the birds’ motivation to choose correctly by increasing the investment needed to obtain the reward. To do so, the birds had to pull on a string to obtain the cup. Here, the birds as a group tended to rely on gaze cues. In addition, individual birds quickly learned to use the cue in both experiments. Although rooks may not use gaze cues to find hidden food spontaneously, they may quickly learn to do so.  
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  ISSN 0376-6357 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5420  
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Author Takaoka, A.; Maeda, T.; Hori, Y.; Fujita, K. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Do dogs follow behavioral cues from an unreliable human? Type Journal Article
  Year 2015 Publication Animal Cognition Abbreviated Journal Anim.Cogn.  
  Volume 18 Issue 2 Pages 475-483  
  Keywords Dog; Dog–human interaction; Selective trust; Pointing; Object choice task  
  Abstract Dogs are known to consistently follow human pointing gestures. In this study, we asked whether dogs “automatically” do this or whether they flexibly adjust their behavior depending upon the reliability of the pointer, demonstrated in an immediately preceding event. We tested pet dogs in a version of the object choice task in which a piece of food was hidden in one of the two containers. In Experiment 1, Phase 1, an experimenter pointed at the baited container; the second container was empty. In Phase 2, after showing the contents of both containers to the dogs, the experimenter pointed at the empty container. In Phase 3, the procedure was exactly as in Phase 1. We compared the dogs’ responses to the experimenter’s pointing gestures in Phases 1 and 3. Most dogs followed pointing in Phase 1, but many fewer did so in Phase 3. In Experiment 2, dogs followed a new experimenter’s pointing in Phase 3 following replication of procedures of Phases 1 and 2 in Experiment 1. This ruled out the possibility that dogs simply lost motivation to participate in the task in later phases. These results suggest that not only dogs are highly skilled at understanding human pointing gestures, but also they make inferences about the reliability of a human who presents cues and consequently modify their behavior flexibly depending on the inference.  
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  Corporate Author Thesis  
  Publisher Springer Berlin Heidelberg Place of Publication Editor  
  Language English Summary Language Original Title  
  Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title  
  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 1435-9448 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 5888  
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Author Udell, M.A.R.; Dorey, N.R.; Wynne, C.D.L. url  doi
openurl 
  Title Wolves outperform dogs in following human social cues Type Journal Article
  Year 2008 Publication Animal Behaviour. Abbreviated Journal Anim. Behav.  
  Volume 76 Issue 6 Pages 1767-1773  
  Keywords Canis familiaris; Canis lupus; dog; dog shelter; domestication; momentary distal point; object choice; social cognition; wolf  
  Abstract Domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, have been shown capable of finding hidden food by following pointing gestures made with different parts of the human body. However, previous studies have reported that hand-reared wolves, C. lupus, fail to locate hidden food in response to similar points in the absence of extensive training. The failure of wolves to perform this task has led to the proposal that the ability to understand others' intentions is a derived character in dogs, not present in the ancestral population (wolves). Here we show that wolves, given the right rearing environment and daily interaction with humans, can use momentary distal human pointing cues to find food without training, whereas dogs tested outdoors and dogs at an animal shelter do not follow the same human points. In line with past studies, pet dogs tested indoors were successful in following these points. We also show that the reported failure of wolves in some past studies may be due to differences in the testing environment. Our findings indicate that domestication is not a prerequisite for human-like social cognition in canids, and show the need for additional research on the role of rearing conditions and environmental factors in the development of higher-level cognitive abilities.  
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  Series Volume Series Issue Edition  
  ISSN 0003-3472 ISBN Medium  
  Area Expedition Conference  
  Notes Approved no  
  Call Number Equine Behaviour @ team @ Serial 4964  
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