Lucia Lazarowski

Several studies have shown that domestic dogs respond to human social cues such as pointing. Some experiments have shown that pet dogs outperformed wolves in following a momentary distal point. These findings have lent support to the hypothesis that domestication is responsible for domestic dogs’ ability to utilize human gestures. Other studies demonstrating comparable performance in human-socialized wolves suggest this skill depends on experience with relevant human stimuli. However, domestic dogs lacking thorough exposure to humans are underrepresented in the comparative literature. The goal of this study was to evaluate pet and kennel-reared research domestic dogs on their ability to follow two types of point in an object-choice task. This study used young adult, intact male research dogs (n = 11) and a comparison group of pet dogs living in human homes (n = 9). We found that while pet dogs followed the momentary distal point above chance levels, research dogs did not. Both groups followed the simpler dynamic proximal point; however, pet dogs outperformed research dogs on this task. Our results indicate that ontogenetic experiences may influence a domestic dog's ability to use human gestures, highlighting the importance of testing different sub-populations of domestic dogs.

Previously thought to be unique to humans, abstract-concept learning has been demonstrated in a variety of species spread across the phylogenetic tree. A parameter important to abstract-concept learning is the number of training exemplars. For numerous species, increasing the number of training exemplars of the concept facilitates full transfer to novel stimuli. However, the number of training exemplars required to fully acquire the concept can vary between species. These findings have offered support for Darwin's assertion that cognitive differences between species are matters of degree rather than matters of kind. In light of these findings, some concern has grown over whether stimulus generalization can account for the functional relationship between training exemplars and transfer performance. The current chapter examined the viability of the generalization hypothesis for solving the non-matching-to-sample task. We tested the generalization hypothesis using a pre-existing model to simulate rates of acquisition (Wright & Katz, 2007). Our results indicate generalization cannot account for acquisition or transfer of non-matching abstract-concept learning. These findings further demonstrate the importance of training exemplars on concept formation.