Do that again! Memory for self-performed actions in dogs (Canis familiaris)

Previous studies of memory have focused heavily on recognition of environmental stimuli such as objects, images, or spatial cues. Less is understood about animals' abilities to flexibly retrieve memories of recently performed actions and to use such memories to guide their responses. Training individuals to repeat actions on cue potentially can reveal what they remember about recent actions, how long they retain those memories, and how flexibly they can form and use mental representations of actions. This project examined memories for recently performed actions in domestic dogs. We tested dogs' abilities to reproduce actions on cue immediately after performing those actions and after a delay. All dogs learned to repeat recent actions when cued to do so. Dogs also proved to be able to repeat actions after short delays, to repeat actions multiple times without additional training, and to repeat actions that they were not explicitly trained to repeat, including untrained actions that they innovated on cue. Collectively, these findings suggest that dogs can flexibly access memories of their actions and can form an abstract concept of repeating that generalizes across many different actions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).