Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues?
Dogs appear to be sensitive to human ostensive communicative cues in a variety of situations, however there is still a measure of controversy as to the way in which these cues influence human-dog interactions. There is evidence for instance that dogs can be led into making evaluation errors in a qua...
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ftunivpadovairis:oai:www.research.unipd.it:11577/2732079 2024-04-21T07:59:22+00:00 Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues? Sarah Marshall Pescini Chiara Passalacqua Paola Valsecchi Emanuela Prato Previde MILETTO PETRAZZINI, MARIA ELENA Sarah Marshall, Pescini Chiara, Passalacqua MILETTO PETRAZZINI, MARIA ELENA Paola, Valsecchi Emanuela Prato, Previde 2012 ELETTRONICO http://hdl.handle.net/11577/2732079 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035437 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035437 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000305345200040 volume:7 firstpage:e35437 journal:PLOS ONE http://hdl.handle.net/11577/2732079 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035437 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-84865857279 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035437 info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2012 ftunivpadovairis https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035437 2024-03-28T01:44:50Z Dogs appear to be sensitive to human ostensive communicative cues in a variety of situations, however there is still a measure of controversy as to the way in which these cues influence human-dog interactions. There is evidence for instance that dogs can be led into making evaluation errors in a quantity discrimination task, for example losing their preference for a larger food quantity if a human shows a preference for a smaller one, yet there is, so far, no explanation for this phenomenon. Using a modified version of this task, in the current study we investigated whether non-social, social or communicative cues (alone or in combination) cause dogs to go against their preference for the larger food quantity. Results show that dogs' evaluation errors are indeed caused by a social bias, but, somewhat contrary to previous studies, they highlight the potent effect of stimulus enhancement (handling the target) in influencing the dogs' response. A mild influence on the dog's behaviour was found only when different ostensive cues (and no handling of the target) were used in combination, suggesting their cumulative effect. The discussion addresses possible motives for discrepancies with previous studies suggesting that both the intentionality and the directionality of the action may be important in causing dogs' social biases. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus Padua Research Archive (IRIS - Università degli Studi di Padova) PLoS ONE 7 4 e35437 |
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Padua Research Archive (IRIS - Università degli Studi di Padova) |
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ftunivpadovairis |
language |
English |
description |
Dogs appear to be sensitive to human ostensive communicative cues in a variety of situations, however there is still a measure of controversy as to the way in which these cues influence human-dog interactions. There is evidence for instance that dogs can be led into making evaluation errors in a quantity discrimination task, for example losing their preference for a larger food quantity if a human shows a preference for a smaller one, yet there is, so far, no explanation for this phenomenon. Using a modified version of this task, in the current study we investigated whether non-social, social or communicative cues (alone or in combination) cause dogs to go against their preference for the larger food quantity. Results show that dogs' evaluation errors are indeed caused by a social bias, but, somewhat contrary to previous studies, they highlight the potent effect of stimulus enhancement (handling the target) in influencing the dogs' response. A mild influence on the dog's behaviour was found only when different ostensive cues (and no handling of the target) were used in combination, suggesting their cumulative effect. The discussion addresses possible motives for discrepancies with previous studies suggesting that both the intentionality and the directionality of the action may be important in causing dogs' social biases. |
author2 |
Sarah Marshall, Pescini Chiara, Passalacqua MILETTO PETRAZZINI, MARIA ELENA Paola, Valsecchi Emanuela Prato, Previde |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sarah Marshall Pescini Chiara Passalacqua Paola Valsecchi Emanuela Prato Previde MILETTO PETRAZZINI, MARIA ELENA |
spellingShingle |
Sarah Marshall Pescini Chiara Passalacqua Paola Valsecchi Emanuela Prato Previde MILETTO PETRAZZINI, MARIA ELENA Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues? |
author_facet |
Sarah Marshall Pescini Chiara Passalacqua Paola Valsecchi Emanuela Prato Previde MILETTO PETRAZZINI, MARIA ELENA |
author_sort |
Sarah Marshall Pescini |
title |
Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues? |
title_short |
Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues? |
title_full |
Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues? |
title_fullStr |
Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Do Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) Make Counterproductive Choices Because They Are Sensitive to Human Ostensive Cues? |
title_sort |
do dogs (canis lupus familiaris) make counterproductive choices because they are sensitive to human ostensive cues? |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11577/2732079 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035437 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035437 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/wos/WOS:000305345200040 volume:7 firstpage:e35437 journal:PLOS ONE http://hdl.handle.net/11577/2732079 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035437 info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/scopus/2-s2.0-84865857279 http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0035437 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035437 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
7 |
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4 |
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e35437 |
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