Are readers of our face readers of our minds? Dogs (Canis familiaris) show situation-dependent recognition of human’s attention

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.

Species-specific differences and similarities in the behavior of hand-raised dog and wolf pups in social situations with humans

“…This is partly due to the assumption that dogs did not evolve simply by selection for human proximity (e.g., as proposed by Coppinger Q2 & Coppinger, 2001) but more broadly to the social relationships that characterize human groups and societies. Recent studies from different research groups suggest that dogs show a specific attachment to caregivers from very early age , they can engage in complex communicative interaction with humans (McKinley & Sambrock, 2000;Soproni, Miklósi, Topál, & Csányi, 2001), are able to recognize minute behavioral cues characterizing human visual attention (Call, Bräuer, Kaminski, & Tomasello, 2003;Gácsi, Miklósi, Varga, Topál, & Csányi, 2004;Virányi, Topál, Gácsi, Miklósi, & Csányi, 2004), and learn readily by observing humans DEV/MG049-04 (20082) A solving various problems (Pongrácz, Miklósi, Kubinyi, Gurobi, & Csányi, 2001;. These observations provided support for our earlier hypothesis that dogs have adapted to become integrated into human social groups and they evolved behavioral and cognitive skills to interact with us (Miklósi, Polgárdi, Topál, & Csányi, 2000).…”

Begging test: uma avaliação da graduação da comunicação visual entre cães sem raça definida, cães de raça (Golden Retrievers) e humanos

“…Os resultados do presente estudo confirmam os achados do begging test em cães conduzido por GÁCSI et al (2004). Os cães possuem a capacidade de interpretar a atenção do ser humano em pistas faciais ou pela posição da cabeça.…”

“…O sucesso é baseado no uso de pistas sociais, uma vez que explicações alternativas foram descartadas, incluindo uso de odor como pista para encontrar o alimento (HARE & TOMASELLO, 1999;MCKINLEY & SAMBROOK, 2000;SZETEI et al, 2003). Cães são capazes de devolver uma bola na brincadeira de buscar para os proprietários que mantém maior tempo de contato visual (GÁCSI et al, 2004).…”

“…Em um teste de comunicação (begging test) envolvendo pessoas, os cães escolhem um indivíduo para pedir comida baseado em pistas faciais normalmente associadas com a atenção (GÁCSI et al, 2004). O begging test é particularmente interessante e simples, podendo explicar como os cães podem melhor aprender e responder à interação com pessoas.…”

“…O cão pode tocar com o focinho, tentar atingir o sanduíche ou apenas permanecer olhando fixamente a pessoa. GÁCSI et al (2004) aplicaram o begging test para concluir que os cães são capazes de interpretar a atenção humana pelo olhar e postura da cabeça. Contudo, o estudo de GÁCSI et al (2004) não deixa claro se cães podem compreender apenas pelo olhar ou se a postura da cabeça também influenciaria a decisão de pedir comida à pessoa que com ele interage.…”