TY - JOUR
T1 - The ontogeny of human point following in dogs
T2 - When younger dogs outperform older
AU - Zaine, Isabela
AU - Domeniconi, Camila
AU - Wynne, Clive
N1 - Funding Information:
Isabela Zaine was supported by a fellowship from São Paulo Research Foundation —FAPESP (Grants 2011/06288-0 , 2013/00576-0 ).
PY - 2015/10/1
Y1 - 2015/10/1
N2 - We investigated puppies' responsiveness to hand points differing in salience. Experiment 1 compared performance of younger (8 weeks old) and older (12 weeks) shelter pups in following pointing gestures. We hypothesized that older puppies would show better performance. Both groups followed the easy and moderate but not the difficult pointing cues. Surprisingly, the younger pups outperformed the older ones in following the moderate and difficult points. Investigation of subjects' backgrounds revealed that significantly more younger pups had experience living in human homes than did the older pups. Thus, we conducted a second experiment to isolate the variable experience. We collected additional data from older pet pups living in human homes on the same three point types and compared their performance with the shelter pups from Experiment 1. The pups living in homes accurately followed all three pointing cues. When comparing both experienced groups, the older pet pups outperformed the younger shelter ones, as predicted. When comparing the two same-age groups differing in background experience, the pups living in homes outperformed the shelter pups. A significant correlation between experience with humans and success in following less salient cues was found. The importance of ontogenetic learning in puppies' responsiveness to certain human social cues is discussed.
AB - We investigated puppies' responsiveness to hand points differing in salience. Experiment 1 compared performance of younger (8 weeks old) and older (12 weeks) shelter pups in following pointing gestures. We hypothesized that older puppies would show better performance. Both groups followed the easy and moderate but not the difficult pointing cues. Surprisingly, the younger pups outperformed the older ones in following the moderate and difficult points. Investigation of subjects' backgrounds revealed that significantly more younger pups had experience living in human homes than did the older pups. Thus, we conducted a second experiment to isolate the variable experience. We collected additional data from older pet pups living in human homes on the same three point types and compared their performance with the shelter pups from Experiment 1. The pups living in homes accurately followed all three pointing cues. When comparing both experienced groups, the older pet pups outperformed the younger shelter ones, as predicted. When comparing the two same-age groups differing in background experience, the pups living in homes outperformed the shelter pups. A significant correlation between experience with humans and success in following less salient cues was found. The importance of ontogenetic learning in puppies' responsiveness to certain human social cues is discussed.
KW - Age
KW - Ontogenetic learning
KW - Puppies
KW - Social cues
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U2 - 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.07.004
DO - 10.1016/j.beproc.2015.07.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 26192336
AN - SCOPUS:84938852190
SN - 0376-6357
VL - 119
SP - 76
EP - 85
JO - Behavioural processes
JF - Behavioural processes
ER -