Feline communication strategies when presented with an unsolvable task: the attentional state of the person matters

Zhang, Lingna; Needham, Katie B.; Juma, Serena; Si, Xuemei; Martin, François

doi:10.1007/s10071-021-01503-6

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(85 reference statements)

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“…In support, almost all domestic species tested so far exhibit referential communicative behaviours towards humans 9 – 11 , 17 , 18 . Remarkably, however, all species for which referential communication with humans has been reported (dogs 17 , 19 , goats 9 , 20 horses 10 , 21 , cats 18 , dolphins 12 , wolves 22 , kangaroos 15 , non-human primates 8 , 13 ) use visual social signals efficiently and rely on them heavily for within-species communication and cooperation. This raises the alternative hypothesis that readiness for human-oriented referential communication may not emerge in species that lack certain species-specific characteristics such as the efficiency of intraspecific visual communication.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…But is domestication or intense human socialization a sufficient prerequisite? In support, almost all domestic species tested so far exhibit referential communicative behaviours towards humans [9][10][11]17,18 . Remarkably, however, all species for which referential communication with humans has been reported (dogs 17,19 , goats 9,20 horses 10,21 , cats 18 , dolphins 12 , wolves 22 , kangaroos 15 , non-human primates 8,13 ) use visual social signals efficiently and rely on them heavily for within-species communication and cooperation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 94%

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Out-of-reach rewards elicit human-oriented referential communicative behaviours in family dogs but not in family pigs

Fraga

Morvai

Gerencsér

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Human-oriented referential communication has been evidenced not only in domestic but also in some wild species, however, the importance of domestication-unrelated species’ characteristics in the emergence of this capacity remains largely unexplored. One shared property of all species reported to exhibit referential communication is the efficient use of visual social signals. To assess the potential role of species-specific characteristics in the emergence of human-oriented referential communication, we compared similarly socialised companion animals from two domestic species: dogs, which rely heavily on conspecific visual social signals; and pigs, which do not. We used an out-of-reach reward paradigm with three conditions: both human and reward present, only human present, only reward present. Both species exhibited certain behaviours (e.g. orientation towards the human, orientation alternation between the human and the reward) more often in the human’s presence. However, only dogs exhibited those behaviours more often in the simultaneous presence of the human and the reward. These results suggest similar readiness in dogs and pigs to attend to humans but also that pigs, unlike dogs, do not initiate referential communication with humans. The ability to referentially communicate with humans may not emerge in mammals, even if domesticated companion animals, that lack certain species characteristics, such as efficient intraspecific visual communication.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

mentioning

confidence: 94%

Out-of-reach rewards elicit human-oriented referential communicative behaviours in family dogs but not in family pigs

Fraga

Morvai

Gerencsér

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Since then, variations of the ‘unsolvable task’ paradigm have been used in numerous studies to assess dogs’ cognitive abilities and to tease apart phylogenetic and ontogenetic effects on human-directed gazing in dogs, other canids (reviewed in Cavalli et al 2018 ; Mendes et al 2021 ), as well as other species (Alterisio et al 2018 ; Langbein et al 2018 ; Miklósi et al 2005 ; Pérez Fraga et al 2021 ; Zhang et al 2021 ). Several studies demonstrated that wolves show less ‘looking back’ than dogs do (Gácsi et al 2005 ; Marshall-Pescini et al 2017 ; Miklósi et al 2003 ; Udell 2015 ), while dingoes were found to show intermediate levels of human-directed gazing (Ballard et al 2021 ; Johnston et al 2017 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disentangling help-seeking and giving up: differential human-directed gazing by dogs in a modified unsolvable task paradigm

2022

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Dogs are renowned for ‘looking back’ at humans when confronted with a problem, but it has been questioned whether this implies help-seeking or giving up. We tested 56 pet dogs from two breed groups (herding dogs and terriers) in a modified unsolvable task paradigm. One reward type (food or toy) was enclosed in a box, while the respective other reward was accessible. With both reward types, human-directed gazing in relation to the box was significantly positively correlated with interaction with the box, as long as an alternative was available. This suggests that both behaviours served to attain the unavailable reward and reflected individual motivation for the inaccessible vs the accessible reward. Furthermore, we varied whether the owner or the experimenter was responsible for handling the rewards. In the owner-responsible group, dogs rarely gazed at the experimenter. In the experimenter-responsible group, dogs preferentially directed box-related gazing (prior to or after looking at or interacting with the box) at the owner. Still, they gazed at the experimenter significantly longer than the owner-responsible group. Conversely, toy-related gazing was directed significantly more at the experimenter. Thus, dogs adjust their gazing behaviour according to the people’s responsibility and their current goal (help-seeking vs play). Gaze duration did not differ between herding dogs and terriers. We conclude that dogs use gazing at humans’ faces as a social problem-solving strategy, but not all gazing can be classified as such. Dogs’ human-directed gazing is influenced by the social relationships with the persons, situational associations, and context (unsolvable problem vs play).

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“…Cats have excellent social-cognitive abilities [ 3 ]. Furthermore, they can recognize human emotions (e.g., happiness and anger) from human communicative cues (e.g., the vocal tone and facial expressions of people) [ 4 , 5 ] and the state of attention and interest in themselves from a person’s gaze [ 6 , 7 ]. Previous studies have shown that cats increased ear and head movements upon hearing their owners’ voices, rather than the voices of others [ 8 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physiological Assessment of the Health and Welfare of Domestic Cats—An Exploration of Factors Affecting Urinary Cortisol and Oxytocin

Kimura

Masuda

et al. 2022

Animals

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Physiological samples are beneficial in assessing the health and welfare of cats. However, most studies have been conducted in specialized environments, such as shelters or laboratories, and have not focused on cats living in domestic settings. In addition, most studies have assessed physiological stress states in cats based on cortisol, and none have quantified positive indicators, such as oxytocin. Here, we collected urine samples from 49 domestic cats and quantified urinary cortisol, oxytocin, and creatinine using ELISA. To identify factors influencing hormone levels, owners responded to questionnaires regarding their housing environment, individual cat information, and the frequency of daily interactions with their cats. Using principal component analysis, principal component scores for daily interactions were extracted. These results showed that the frequency of tactile and auditory signal-based communication by owners was positively correlated with the mean concentration of oxytocin in the urine. Additionally, this communication was more frequent in younger cats or cats that had experienced a shorter length of cohabitation with the owner. However, no factors associated with urinary cortisol concentration were identified. Our study indicates that interactions and relationships with the owner influence the physiological status of cats and suggests that oxytocin is a valuable parameter for assessing their health and welfare.

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Feline communication strategies when presented with an unsolvable task: the attentional state of the person matters

Cited by 10 publications

References 55 publications

Out-of-reach rewards elicit human-oriented referential communicative behaviours in family dogs but not in family pigs

Out-of-reach rewards elicit human-oriented referential communicative behaviours in family dogs but not in family pigs

Disentangling help-seeking and giving up: differential human-directed gazing by dogs in a modified unsolvable task paradigm

Physiological Assessment of the Health and Welfare of Domestic Cats—An Exploration of Factors Affecting Urinary Cortisol and Oxytocin

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