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A shared system of representation governing quantity discrimination in canids
Joseph M Baker1, Justice Morath, Katrina S Rodzon
1Multisensory Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, Utah State University Logan, UT, USA.
Frontiers in Psychology
|October 13, 2012
Summary
Domesticated dogs and coyotes show similar abilities in discriminating food quantities, suggesting domestication has not significantly altered this cognitive skill in canids. This highlights shared non-verbal quantitative cognition across species.
Area of Science:
- Comparative Cognition
- Evolutionary Psychology
- Animal Behavior
Background:
- Cognitive abilities can be investigated by comparing related species.
- Domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) and coyotes (Canis latrans) share psychophysical "less/more" food quantity discrimination abilities.
- This ability in many species, including humans, follows Weber's Law, where discrimination accuracy depends on the ratio between quantities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether domestication has altered the quantitative discrimination abilities in dogs compared to coyotes.
- To explore the impact of selective and ecological pressures on canid quantitative cognition.
- To elucidate the evolution of non-verbal quantitative cognition in closely related species.
Main Methods:
- Tested the quantitative discrimination ability of 16 domesticated dogs.
- Each dog completed nine trials involving simultaneous presentation of two different food quantities.
- Compared dog performance directly with published data from 16 coyotes (Baker et al., 2011).
Main Results:
- Domesticated dogs and coyotes exhibited strikingly similar quantitative discrimination abilities.
- The performance of dogs was comparable to that of coyotes on the same task.
- Quantitative sensitivity appears consistent between the two canid species.
Conclusions:
- Domestication may not have significantly altered the psychophysical discrimination abilities of canids.
- Provides evidence for conserved non-verbal quantitative abilities across multiple species.
- Suggests that evolutionary pressures have maintained similar quantitative skills in both wild and domesticated canids.
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