Attachment to humans: a comparative study on hand-reared wolves and differently socialized dog puppies

Topál, József; Gácsi, Márta; Miklósi, Ádám; Virányi, Zsófia; Kubinyi, Enikő; Csányi, Vilmos

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.03.025

Cited by 247 publications

(213 citation statements)

References 31 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

195

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Taken together, our results suggest that the face-specific LGB is not apparent 17 in human infants, but develops over time; also, our evidence shows that the LGB is not a 18 human-specific phenomenon, but seems to have broader adaptive value to social species. LGB we observed here is most likely due to a lateralised right hemisphere bias for face 17 processing which has been revealed by studies of brain imaging and patients with focal …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Left gaze bias in humans, rhesus monkeys and domestic dogs

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While viewing faces, human adults often demonstrate a natural gaze bias towards the left visual field, that is, the right side of the viewee’s face is often inspected first and for longer periods. Using a preferential looking paradigm, we demonstrate that this bias is neither uniquely human nor limited to primates, and provide evidence to help elucidate its biological function within a broader social cognitive framework. We observed that 6-month-old infants showed a wider tendency for left gaze preference towards objects and faces of different species and orientation, while in adults the bias appears only towards upright human faces. Rhesus monkeys showed a left gaze bias towards upright human and monkey faces, but not towards inverted faces. Domestic dogs, however, only demonstrated a left gaze bias towards human faces, but not towards monkey or dog faces, nor to inanimate object images. Our findings suggest that face- and species-sensitive gaze asymmetry is more widespread in the animal kingdom than previously recognised, is not constrained by attentional or scanning bias, and could be shaped by experience to develop adaptive behavioural significance

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Left gaze bias in humans, rhesus monkeys and domestic dogs

et al. 2008

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Domestic dogs used for comparison, however, continued to live in human homes and had daily contact with humans (Kubinyi et al, 2007). In sum, while we do not deny the value of the results from the Kubinyi et al study or other studies utilizing this group of wolves (including Miklósi et al, 2003;Topál et al, 2005), we disagree that the results from that study should be considered of greater utility than those from other recent studies of dog and wolf responsiveness to human cues. Certainly Kubinyi et al's study does not nullify reports that wolves have the capacity to be successful on human-guided tasks (Gácsi et al, 2009;Udell et al, 2008Udell et al, , 2011 or the findings that some groups of domestic dogs are not successful (Udell et al, 2008;Udell, Dorey, & Wynne, 2010a).…”

Section: Movement Toward An Interactive Approachcontrasting

confidence: 51%

Reevaluating canine perspective-taking behavior

Udell

Wynne

2011

Learn Behav

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Udell, Dorey, and Wynne (2011) demonstrated that both domesticated and nondomesticated canids-specifically, gray wolves-have the capacity to succeed on perspectivetaking tasks, suggesting that dogs' ability to respond to the human attentional state is not a by-product of domestication alone. Furthermore, not all dogs were successful on the task. Instead, the occluder type used was a strong predictor of performance, indicating the important role of environment and experience for tasks of this type. Here, we address several commentaries reflecting on the methods and design of that study, as well as the interpretation of the results. We also discuss the positive shift toward more interactive approaches in the field of canine behavior and cognition. Finally, we question the functionality of describing canine social behavior in terms of theory of mind.

show abstract

“…However, such studies are rare and thus difficult to evaluate. 17 Superior socio-cognitive performance in dogs cannot be explained by domestication alone 89,90 since comparable effects are not found in other domesticated animals except those that are also cooperative breeders. For example, rapid experimentally induced domestication of silver foxes (Vulpes vulpes), which also breed cooperatively, 91,92 produced a similar increase in socio-cognitive performance.…”

Section: Cooperative Breeding and Cognitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution

Burkart

Hrdy

Schaik³

2009

Evolutionary Anthropology

490

406

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite sharing a recent common ancestor, humans are surprisingly different from other great apes. The most obvious discontinuities are related to our cognitive abilities, including language, but we also have a markedly different, cooperative breeding system. Among many nonhuman primates and mammals in general, cooperative breeding is accompanied by psychological changes leading to greater prosociality, which directly enhances performance in social cognition. Here we propose that these cognitive consequences of cooperative breeding could have become more pervasive in the human lineage because the psychological changes were added to an ape-level cognitive system capable of understanding simple mental states, albeit mainly in competitive contexts. Once more prosocial motivations were added, these cognitive abilities could also be used for cooperative purposes, including a willingness to share mental states, thereby enabling the emergence of shared intentionality. Shared intentionality has been identified as the original source of many uniquely human cognitive abilities, including cumulative culture and language. Shared intentionality rests on a fundamentally prosocial disposition that is strikingly absent in chimpanzees, but present in cooperatively breeding primates. Thus, our hypothesis is that while chimpanzees and perhaps all great apes exhibit many of the important cognitive preconditions for uniquely human mental capacities to evolve, they lack the psychological preconditions. In humans, we argue, the two components merged, the cognitive component due to common descent from ape ancestors and the motivational component due to convergent evolution of traits typical of many cooperative breeders.As recently as 6 to 7 million years ago, the hominin lineage split off from the rest of the great ape (hominid) lineage 1 and consequently shares many biological traits and behavioral and cognitive similarities with great apes. 2,3Nevertheless, humans also exhibit remarkable differences from our closest relatives. First, we not only live far longer lives and reproduce at faster rates than do the other great apes, but our offspring take much longer to mature and women cease reproduction well before somatic senescence sets in.4 Second, our ecological niche involves specialization on large, valuable food packages that have to be acquired together, as well as shared, and mandatory reliance on techniques acquired through cumulative culture.5 This niche and our social relationships are based on an un-apelike selflessness, a degree of hypersociality reflected in a concern for others, eagerness to share food and information with others, and cooperation in a wide array of contexts, even with nonrelatives and near-strangers.5-8 Our mode of life facilitates our spread into new habitats, resulting in a ubiquitous geographic distribution.9 Third, with regard to intellectual performance, humans differ from the other great apes, which, as a group, show relatively homogeneous cognitive abilities. [10][11][12]

show abstract

Attachment to humans: a comparative study on hand-reared wolves and differently socialized dog puppies

Cited by 247 publications

References 31 publications

Left gaze bias in humans, rhesus monkeys and domestic dogs

Left gaze bias in humans, rhesus monkeys and domestic dogs

Reevaluating canine perspective-taking behavior

Cooperative breeding and human cognitive evolution

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About