Prioritization strategies for environmental cognition in dogs: spatial memory or olfactory memory

Abstract

Memory is the main basis for animal cognition of the environment and its composition, and more and more studies show that memory plays a key role in the cognitive development of dogs, but there are few studies on whether spatial memory or olfactory memory plays a dominant role in the cognitive process of the environment in dogs. This study aims to further identify the preferred strategy of dogs in the cognitive process of the environment, to provide scientific support for the behavioral research and training of dogs, and also, to un The present study aimed to further confirm the preferential strategy of dogs in environmental cognition to provide scientific support for dog behavioral research and training, and also to provide a reference for human cognitive modeling studies. To test this, a group of dogs was selected to participate in the same learning task in this study, and then, seven Kunming and seven Malinois were randomly selected by breed and sex to perform three rounds of scent recognition tests in the behavior laboratory, with each round of tests being conducted twice a day for a ten-day period. The first two tests (N1S1 and N1S2) both entered the laboratory from the same direction to search for the target, the second two tests (N2S1 and N2S2) entered the laboratory from different directions to search for the target, and the third two tests (N3S1 and N3S2) entered the laboratory from different directions to search for the target, while adding distractors. The test results showed that the difference in search time between N1S1 and N2S1 was not significant, and the dog's search trajectory showed no regularity; N1S2 and N1S2, N2S1 and N2S2 all showed highly significant differences in search time, and the dog's search trajectory showed regularity; N3S1 showed highly significant differences in search time with N1S1 and N2S1, and N3S1 and N3S2 showed no significant differences, and the dog's search The dog's search trajectory showed no regularity. It shows that: in a simple environment without distractors, dogs can form a spatial memory similar to geometric coordinates in the brain for the location of target objects, and they will use spatial memory as the priority strategy for search, but this spatial memory ability is more effective in the short term, and in the long term, it does not accumulate with time; the presence of distractors changed the search strategy derived from spatial memory in N1 and N2, and dogs established a preferential strategy derived from olfactory memory to search and match target objects based on olfactory source odor memory, meanwhile, the dog's odor memory ability and learning time showed a positive correlation.