Document Detail


Dogs' Gaze Following Is Tuned to Human Communicative Signals.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  22226744     Owner:  NLM     Status:  Publisher    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Recent evidence suggests that preverbal infants' gaze following can be triggered only if an actor's head turn is preceded by the expression of communicative intent [1]. Such connectedness between ostensive and referential signals may be uniquely human, enabling infants to effectively respond to referential communication directed to them. In the light of increasing evidence of dogs' social communicative skills [2], an intriguing question is whether dogs' responsiveness to human directional gestures [3] is associated with the situational context in an infant-like manner. Borrowing a method used in infant studies [1], dogs watched video presentations of a human actor turning toward one of two objects, and their eye-gaze patterns were recorded with an eye tracker. Results show a higher tendency of gaze following in dogs when the human's head turning was preceded by the expression of communicative intent (direct gaze, addressing). This is the first evidence to show that (1) eye-tracking techniques can be used for studying dogs' social skills and (2) the exploitation of human gaze cues depends on the communicatively relevant pattern of ostensive and referential signals in dogs. Our findings give further support to the existence of a functionally infant-analog social competence in this species.
Authors:
Ernő Téglás; Anna Gergely; Krisztina Kupán; Adám Miklósi; József Topál
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Publication Detail:
Type:  JOURNAL ARTICLE     Date:  2012-1-4
Journal Detail:
Title:  Current biology : CB     Volume:  -     ISSN:  1879-0445     ISO Abbreviation:  -     Publication Date:  2012 Jan 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2012-1-9     Completed Date:  -     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9107782     Medline TA:  Curr Biol     Country:  -    
Other Details:
Languages:  ENG     Pagination:  -     Citation Subset:  -    
Copyright Information:
Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Affiliation:
Cognitive Development Center, Central European University, Hattyú 14, 1051 Budapest, Hungary; Comparative Behavioural Research Group, Research Institute for Psychology, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Victor Hugo Street, 18-22, 1132 Budapest, Hungary.
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