Cognition and the Development of Social Cognition in the Domestic Dog (Canis Lupus Familiaris) (original) (raw)
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In recent decades, cognitive and behavioral knowledge in dogs seems to have developed considerably, as deduced from the published peer-reviewed articles. However, to date, the worldwide trend of scientific research on dog cognition and behavior has never been explored using a bibliometric approach, while the evaluation of scientific research has increasingly become important in recent years. In this review, we compared the publication trend of the articles in the last 34 years on dogs’ cognitive and behavioral science with those in the general category “Behavioral Science”. We found that, after 2005, there has been a sharp increase in scientific publications on dogs. Therefore, the year 2005 has been used as “starting point” to perform an in-depth bibliometric analysis of the scientific activity in dog cognitive and behavioral studies. The period between 2006 and 2018 is taken as the study period, and a backward analysis was also carried out. The data analysis was performed using “b...
Comparative social cognition: what can dogs teach us?
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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.
REVIEW Comparative social cognition: what can dogs teach us?
2000
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'
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The general psychology course provides a unique opportunity to present the science of psychology to a wide audience. Informing the general public about the importance of animal research in psychology is especially important given contemporary concerns about animal rights and animal welfare. A study of 8 leading introductory psychology textbooks indicated that with the exception of principles of conditioning and learning, the contributions of animal research to psychology were often not explicitly acknowledged. In addition, major findings from animal research were frequently presented as if they had been obtained with humans. In obscuring the contributions of animal research, introductory psychology textbooks miss the opportunity to ensure that public policy is based on accurate information about the significance of this research to many areas of psychological science.
THE CANINE-HUMAN INTERRELATIONSHIP AS A MODEL OF POST-OPPOSITIONALITY
Beins' expertise and excellent eye for detail. As an undergraduate Dr. Souris encouraged me to go to graduate school and I will always be grateful for the confidence he had in me. Dr. Cheronda Steele's calm empathy, her insights and strategies, were instrumental in the process and progress of this project. My sincere thanks to Maurice Alcorn who always read and responded kindly. My warm gratitude goes to Dr. Claire Sahlin for her enduring guidance and compassion and for always making time to listen. My children Sierra, Trinity, and Frankie came of age during the course of this project. I love, love, love my children, and their unwavering support strengthened and cheered me throughout the process of this project. Finally and fundamentally, there are my canine companions Fraction, Pi, Abacus, Lemma, Boolean, Julia, Mandelbrot, and Times. Together in these hard times, we make family. I will not forget those who helped make all this possible.
ManyDogs Project: A Big Team Science Approach to Investigating Canine Behavior and Cognition
Dogs have a special place in human history as the first domesticated species and play important roles in many cultures around the world. However, their role in scientific studies has been relatively recent. With a few notable exceptions (e.g., Darwin, Pavlov, Scott, and Fuller), domestic dogs were not commonly the subject of rigorous scientific investigation of behavior until the late 1990s. While the number of canine science studies has increased dramatically over the last 20 years, most research groups are limited in the inferences they can draw due to the relatively small sample sizes used, along with the exceptional diversity observed in dogs (e.g., breed, geographic location, experience). To this end, we introduce the ManyDogs Project, an international consortium of researchers interested in taking a big team science approach to understanding canine behavioral science. We begin by discussing why studying dogs provides valuable insights into behavior and cognition, evolutionary ...
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Understanding the psychology of the domestic dog is a key element in both research and clinical applications for veterinary behaviorists. This article summarizes social cognitive skills observed in dogs in recent cognition studies. The tasks are grouped into the following 2 categories: those which facilitate eye contact between dogs and human beings, and social learning tasks. We also describe easy-to-implement experimental paradigms, previously used in cognitive tests for adult dogs, which we recommend adapting for use with puppies as young as 3 weeks of age. We highlight specific ways by which breeders may alter setup of these tasks to further generalize the social cognitive benefits for the puppies. Furthermore, studies of social development in puppies would enable researchers to explore whether encouragement of the skills examined have a positive effect on behavior as adults, and should thus be specifically incorporated into socialization practices by all breeders and new owners. Thus, the practical applications of this knowledge could include informing best practices for early age socialization by breeders, while puppies are still in the litter, and by new owners when they initially acquire a puppy. This could potentially increase the number of dogs that are well adjusted for human society and thus reduce the number surrendered to shelters. Finally, we discuss the ethical implications of working with puppies in particular and with companion animals generally; the positioning of veterinary clinicians and researchers between the scientific and lay worlds can improve understanding within the community of the benefits that minimally invasive companion animal research can provide.