Owner behavior affects effort and accuracy in dogs' communications


Date:
July 6, 2020
Source:
Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Summary:
Researchers have found that dogs adapt their communicative
strategies to their environment and that owner behavior influences
communicative effort and success. Experimental results found no
evidence that dogs rely on communication history or follow the
principle of least effort and suggest that owner behavior has a
bigger impact on canine communication than previously thought.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Human communication has evolved mechanisms that can be observed across
all cultures and languages, including the use of communication history
and the principle of least effort. These two factors enable us to use
shared information about the past and present and to conserve energy,
making communications as effective and efficient as possible. Given the remarkable sensitivity of dogs to human vocalizations, gestures and
gazes, researchers have suggested that 30.000 years of domestication
and co-evolution with humans may have caused dogs to develop similar
principles of communication -- a theory known as the domestication
hypothesis.


==========================================================================
On this basis, researchers designed an experiment that would examine the factors influencing the form, effort and success of dog-human interactions
in a hidden-object task. Using 30 dog-owner pairs, researchers focused
on a communicative behavior called showing, in which dogs gather the
attention of a communicative partner and direct it to an external source.

While the owner waited in another room, an experimenter in view of a participating dog hid the dogs` favourite toy in one of four boxes. When
the owner entered the room, the dog had to show its owner where the toy
had been hidden. If the owner successfully located the toy, the pair were allowed to play as a reward. Participants were tested in two conditions:
a close setup which required more precise showing and a distant setup
which allowed for showing in a general direction.

The researchers found no evidence to suggest that dogs adhere to the
principal of least effort, as they used as much energy in the easier
far setup as they did in the more difficult close setup. However,
this might have been a result of the owners influence on their dogs'
effort. Secondly, dogs were not affected by different communication
histories, as they performed similarly and used similar amounts of energy
in both setups regardless of which condition they began with. Despite
putting in similar amounts of effort, dogs adapted their showing
strategies to be more or less precise, depending on the conditions.

The findings indicate that a crucial factor influencing the effort and
accuracy of dogs' showing is the behaviour of the dog's owner. Owners
who encouraged their dog to show where the toy was hidden increased
their dog's showing effort but generally decreased their showing accuracy.

"We've seen in previous studies that if we keep eye contact with the
dog or talk in a high-pitched voice, we seem to prompt a 'ready-to-obey attitude' which makes dogs very excited to follow our commands. So when
owners asked their dogs 'Is the toy here?' and pointed at the boxes,
they might have caused dogs to just show any box," says Melanie Henschel,
main author of the study.

Although the researchers found no effects of communication history or
the principal of least effort, the current study indicates for the first
time that owners can influence their dog's showing accuracy and success.

"We were surprised that encouragement increased mistakes in dogs`
showing accuracy. This could have impacts on the training of dogs and
handlers in fields where dogs are working professionals. Future studies
should focus on the complex effects of the owner's influence and the best strategies for handlers communicating with a dog." adds Juliane Bra"uer,
senior author and head of the DogStudies Lab at MPI-SHH in Jena.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Max_Planck_Institute_for_the_Science_of_Human_History.

Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Melanie Henschel, James Winters, Thomas F. Mu"ller, Juliane Bra"uer.

Effect of shared information and owner behavior on showing
in dogs (Canis familiaris). Animal Cognition, 2020; DOI:
10.1007/s10071-020-01409-9 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/07/200706113929.htm

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