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New research has given fresh insight into how dogs see the world—scientists have found that the smarter your dog, the more they notice different objects.
Researchers from the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary investigated a dog's reaction when a human points to an object. For example, when an adult points to an object, a toddler will usually focus on the object. While dogs will usually take the pointing as a cue of what direction to look in, the study noted.
The study, published in the journal Ethology, found that this could be because of the way a dog thinks, as well as the way they see.
"In other words, regardless of the intention of the person giving the cue, the meaning for children and dogs is different. This phenomenon has previously been observed in dogs using a variety of behavioral tests, ranging from simple associative learning to imitation, but it had never been studied per se," Ivaylo Iotchev, first author of the study, said in a press release detailing the findings.
The researchers found that, for "smarter" dogs, the appearance of an object matters as much as its location, suggesting that their information processing is more similar to that of humans.
The researchers conducted two behavior tests measuring 82 dogs' spatial awareness. They then set a series of tasks. The dogs had to learn locations, deciphering whether a treat was on the left or right side.
Another test used two types of plates—a white round one, and a black square one. The dog was only told to eat from one type, but was exposed to each shape. In this task, they were measured by how they learned to run to the correct plate.
Researchers found that the dogs learned quicker when the treat was placed to the right or left, rather than in the center. Whereas they found it harder to remember whether the treat was on the white round plate, or the square black one.
From this, the study concluded that they were a lot faster at remembering object placement, rather than the object features.
If a dog had learned where the treat was, they were then given a more complicated task, where the task was reversed. For example, if the dog had been given the treat on the right, scientists then placed it to the left, and on a different plate.
This suggests that some dogs were smarter than others when undertaking the task. And, it shows how these smarter dogs were resilient in challenging tasks.
"Spatial bias in dogs is not simply a sensory problem but also a mindset. We also found that 'smarter' dogs are resilient in difficult learning situations and can overcome their biases," Iotchev said.
For these smarter dogs, the appearance of an object appeared to matter just as much as its location did, the study reported. This could also suggest that they process information in a similar way to humans.
"The visual abilities of dog breeds differ from each other, which indirectly results from their head shape. Dogs with shorter heads—scientifically known as brachycephalic— develop human-like vision," Zsófia Bognár, another university researcher who took part in the study, said in the release.
"The structure of their retina implies sharper and more focused vision than their longer-headed counterparts. This has allowed us to use a measure of head shape (the so-called "cephalic index") as an approximate measure of the quality of vision in dogs. It is calculated by dividing the width of the skull by the length of the skull. The shorter the head, the higher the number."
It is still not certain why dogs behave this way. It could be because they have poorer vision when compared with humans, or it may be an information processing bias, the study theorized.
However no research has yet established this.
About the writer
Robyn White is a Newsweek Nature Reporter based in London, UK. Her focus is reporting on wildlife, science and the ... Read more