Breed differences in social cognition, inhibitory control, and spatial problem-solving ability in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).

Autor: Junttila S; Department of Production Animal Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland. saara.junttila@helsinki.fi., Valros A; Department of Production Animal Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland., Mäki K; International Partnership for Dogs, Helsinki, Finland., Väätäjä H; Digital Solutions, Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Jokiväylä 11C, 96300, Rovaniemi, Finland., Reunanen E; Department of Finnish and Finno-Ugric Languages, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland., Tiira K; smartDOG Ltd, 05800, Hyvinkää, Finland.; Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Scientific reports [Sci Rep] 2022 Dec 29; Vol. 12 (1), pp. 22529. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Dec 29.
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26991-5
Abstrakt: The extraordinary genetic and behavioural diversity of dog breeds provides a unique opportunity for investigating the heritability of cognitive traits, such as problem-solving ability, social cognition, inhibitory control, and memory. Previous studies have mainly investigated cognitive differences between breed groups, and information on individual dog breeds is scarce. As a result, findings are often contradictory and inconsistent. The aim of this study was to provide more clarity on between-breed differences of cognitive traits in dogs. We examined the performance of 13 dog breeds (N = 1002 dogs) in a standardized test battery. Significant breed differences were found for understanding of human communicative gestures, following a human's misleading gesture, spatial problem-solving ability in a V-detour task, inhibitory control in a cylinder test, and persistence and human-directed behaviour during an unsolvable task. Breeds also differed significantly in their behaviour towards an unfamiliar person, activity level, and exploration of a novel environment. No significant differences were identified in tasks measuring memory or logical reasoning. Breed differences thus emerged mainly in tasks measuring social cognition, problem-solving, and inhibitory control. Our results suggest that these traits may have come under diversifying artificial selection in different breeds. These results provide a deeper understanding on breed-specific traits in dogs.
(© 2022. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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