(ORDO NEWS) — The authors of the new study asked: Do dogs understand the intentions behind human actions, or have they memorized a set of patterns that link certain human behaviors and outcomes?
As the authors of previous scientific papers have shown, most primates somehow understand the intentions of others by observing their behavior.
In humans, this ability develops by the end of the first year of life. What’s more, crows can do the same: in an experiment seven years ago, birds began to hide food more quickly and move it to new hiding places more often when it seemed to them that a real or fictitious crow was looking at them through a peephole.
However, the question of whether dogs have the ability to detect human intentions underlying actions has so far been debatable.
From this point of view, these animals are especially interesting, since they have lived next to people for millennia, can follow their actions, communication signals and facial expressions, perceive pointing gestures.
Now a team of scientists from Austria and the Netherlands has provided strong evidence that dogs understand whether there are any intentions behind our actions.
“Interpreting the actions of others in terms of goals and intentions is fundamental for us humans to make sense of our social environment.
Intention is defined as a plan of action to achieve a specific result, goal.
Understanding intentions allows us to adequately respond to the actions of others, predict them, effectively interact and communicate with others, ”the authors of the article said.
The experiment involved 48 domestic dogs of different breeds (31 females and 17 males), with an average age of six and a half years.
The study took place in a small room, the experimenter and the subject were separated by a barrier – a transparent polycarbonate panel inside a wooden frame, on the sides of which there were mesh fences.
A man wearing a medical mask sat on a small stool inside the fenced area, facing the animal.
Under the panel with holes, scientists placed a wooden ramp: everything that fell on its surface rolled onto the floor. The dogs were free to move around the room.
Each pet completed four trials with three different conditions. In all three cases, the stranger brought a treat (such as a piece of sausage) close to the hole in the panel, pretending to treat the dog.
Under the first condition, the experimenter quickly removed the food, teasing the animal. In the second case, he allegedly accidentally dropped a treat as soon as he brought it to the hole (the food fell on the ramp and rolled back).
In the third case, an additional polycarbonate panel covered the holes. The owner of each of the dogs sat against the wall.
Several cameras recorded everything that happened during the experiments. The researchers then used the videos to train a machine learning algorithm that evaluates the pets’ reactions.
“Dogs distinguished superficially similar human actions that led to the same result, but clearly differed in terms of intent – the willingness to pass food.
For example, animals waited longer when a person dropped a treat than when teased, ”the scientists noted.
So, if the food was not given on purpose, the dog, as a rule, moved away, sat down or lay down, approached the owner.
When the experimenter was simply “clumsy”, the subjects reacted more condescendingly: they continued to make eye contact, wagged their tail, and remained nearby.
In the third case, when a barrier appeared in the form of an additional panel, the dogs approached the experimenter from the side where the net separated them, probably so that the person could still stick a treat there.
“Our results show that the dogs acted as if they understood certain human intentions. However, it does not follow that they represent human intentions, but these pets distinguish between similar actions associated with different intentions.
Cognitive abilities can help with this, from associative learning to theory of mind. In the case of domestic dogs, given their daily interaction with humans, it is possible that they have learned to distinguish between teasing and clumsy actions even before the study.
The desire to still get food could probably explain the greater willingness to expect it after such a “clumsy” display,” the researchers concluded.
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