Portable touchscreen-based platform for behavioural testing of pet dogs

This project will provide the foundation for a better scientific understanding of the elementary cognitive abilities of the most important companion species for humans - dogs. Due to artificial selection and co-evolution with humans1, dogs have been claimed to have enhanced social skills2,3, in some aspects even outperforming our closest living relatives, chimpanzees4, and being on par with young children5. Importantly, however, very few studies have investigated simple learning and memory mechanisms that might underlie, and potentially also largely explain, these proposed advanced cognitive skills. This project will approach dog cognition from a new perspective, by testing if dogs are more flexible and faster at learning arbitrary rules than other animals, a set of abilities that could potentially enable solving more complex cognitive deeds using these enhanced elementary mechanisms.

ASAB Research Grant

Konrad-Lorenz-Institut für Vergleichende Verhaltensforschung