Waiting for more: the performance of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) on exchange tasks |
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Authors: | Rebecca J Leonardi Sarah-Jane Vick Valérie Dufour |
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Institution: | (1) Psychology, School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, Scotland, UK;(2) Department of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Scotland, UK;(3) DEPE, CNRS, IPHC, UMR 7178, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France |
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Abstract: | Five domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) were tested in a cooperative exchange task with an experimenter, as previously tested in non-human primates. In the first
task, the dogs exchanged to maximise payoffs when presented with food items of differing quality. All consistently exchanged
lower-value for higher-value rewards, as determined by their individual food preference, and exchanges corresponded significantly
with the spontaneous preferences of three dogs. Next, all subjects demonstrated an ability to perform two and three exchanges
in succession, to gain both qualitative and quantitatively increased rewards (group mean = 72 and 92% successful triple exchanges,
respectively). Finally, the ability to delay gratification over increasing intervals was tested; the dogs kept one food item
to exchange later for a larger item. As previously reported in non-human primates, there was considerable individual variation
in the tolerance of delays, between 10 s and 10 min for the largest rewards. For those who reached longer time lags (>40 s),
the dogs gave up the chance to exchange earlier than expected by each subject’s general waiting capacity; the dogs anticipated
delay duration and made decisions according to the relative reward values offered. Compared to primates, dogs tolerated relatively
long delays for smaller value rewards, suggesting that the socio-ecological history of domestic dogs facilitates their performance
on decision-making and delay of gratification tasks. |
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