Landmark Discrimination Learning in the Dog

Milgram, Norton W.; Adams, Beth; Callahan, Heather; Head, Elizabeth; Mackay, Bill; Thirlwell, Celeste; Cotman, Carl W.

doi:10.1101/lm.6.1.54

Cited by 80 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Both chimpanzees and rhesus monkeys are not able to find the hidden food in a Wisconsin task if the signalling marker object ("beacon") is placed more than 20 cm away from the actual location (Jenkins, 1943;Murphy & Miller, 1955). Similar observations were reported for dogs in asocial situations (Milgram et al, 1999). Further, many other species tested are able to learn easily in delayed matchingto-sample tasks but still cannot learn to choose correctly in an object choice task if they have to choose on the basis of a momentary pointing gesture (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

The Role of Visual Cues in the Comprehension of the Human Pointing Signals in Dogs

Lakatos¹,

Dóka²,

Miklósi³

2007

International Journal of Comparative Psychology

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In this study we examined the effect of the visually emphasized pointing arm in the case of the "Cross-forward pointing" gesture in dogs which proved to be difficult for them in an earlier study (Lakatos, Soproni, Dóka, & Miklósi, 2008). Our hypothesis was that if we emphasize the directionality of the visual cue using different, more contrasting coloured clothes during the tests, the dogs will be able to enhance their performance in two-way choice tasks. Our results showed that the conspicuousness of the pointing signal can affect how dogs perceive it. In contrast to our initial hypothesis pointing in a long white sleeve on a black background did not increase the dogs' performance, while the black sleeves with nude ("white") hands had an enhancing effect. This suggests that dogs need to see a salient body part what overhangs the median of the body silhouette and when the whole body is covered by black colour then the nude (pointing) hand appears as a conspicuous asymmetrical feature on one side of the body. Making the pointing hand less conspicuous makes the effect invariably disappear. Thus in summary we assume that the key aspect of the pointing gesture is not the directionality but the visually asymmetric cue provided by the human informant.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 56%

The Role of Visual Cues in the Comprehension of the Human Pointing Signals in Dogs

Lakatos¹,

Dóka²,

Miklósi³

2007

International Journal of Comparative Psychology

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“…In the current study, I investigated the metric properties of landmark-based search memory in the domestic dog. Although recent studies revealed that dogs can use landmark information to locate a disappearing object (Fiset, Gagnon, & Beaulieu, 2000; Fiset, Beaulieu, Leblanc, & Dubé, in press) or discriminate a spatial position (Milgram et al, 1999; Milgram et al, 2002), how they encode and use spatial information provided by the landmarks is unclear. Furthermore, most of the studies that have investigated the metric properties of landmark-based search memory in animals have used avian species with a few exceptions, such as bees (Cartwright & Collett, 1987; Cheng, Collett, Pickhard, & Wehner, 1987; Collett & Kelber, 1988), gerbils (Collett et al, 1986), humans (Spetch, 1995; Spetch et al, 1996; Spetch et al, 1997), marmoset monkeys (MacDonald, Spetch, Kelly, & Cheng, 2004) and squirrel monkeys (Sutton, Olthof, & Roberts, 2000).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Landmark-based search memory in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).

Fiset

2007

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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Recent studies have suggested that any animal that relies on landmark-based search memory encodes and uses metric properties of space to navigate. So far, however, metric information provided by landmarks has been predominantly investigated in avian species. In the present study, I investigated whether the domestic dog (Canis familiaris), a mammalian species, encodes the distance and direction from landmarks. Dogs were trained to find a ball hidden next to an array of two distinct landmarks that remained at a constant location in a room from trial to trial. After training, the dogs were occasionally tested on unrewarded conditions where the array was either left in its usual position or shifted laterally, perpendicularly, or diagonally relative to the rear wall of the room. Although the dogs significantly shifted their search as a function of the displacement of the landmarks, they did not search at the predicted coordinates of the goal relative to the shift of the landmarks, suggesting that the global cues available in the testing room were also encoded and used by dogs to locate the position of the goal.Keywords: landmark, distance, direction, global cues, domestic dogsReturning to a site visited before is one of the most widespread spatial problem encountered by animals for survival. The site might be a home, a food cache, a hunting territory, a route, and so forth. Among the diverse mechanisms available to animals for solving this kind of spatial problem, the use of visual landmarks is a very common strategy. An efficient method to demonstrate that visual landmarks control an animal's search behavior is to systematically move the landmarks surrounding a desired location and note if the animal shifts its searching in the same direction and distance in regards to the shift of the landmarks. This transformational approach was pioneered by Tinbergen (1972) when he showed that the digger wasp uses landmarks to locate its nest. In his classic work, Tinbergen placed pinecones around the entrance of the nest dug out in the ground by a digger wasp. As the digger wasp flew away to collect food, she apparently encodes and memorizes the relationships between the pinecones and her nest. Before the digger wasp was returned, Tinbergen moved the array a short distance to a new location. On her return, the digger wasp searched in the center of the array of pinecones and not where her nest actually was, revealing that she had used the pinecones as landmarks to encode and remember her nest location.Contemporary laboratory studies mainly used two variations of this approach to investigate the metric properties (distance and direction) underlying landmark-based search memory in animals

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“…However, an alternative explanation also is possible. Although dogs have proved to be able to use both egocentric and allocentric cues in spatial tasks (Milgram et al, 1999), it is still possible that in this study dogs coded the searched location prevalently egocentrically rather than in relation to other landmarks in the testing room. In fact, the particular constraints used in the experiments to determine the locations used in each discrimination determined that only Condition A– B+ featured a reversal of the reward consistencies in respect to the left or the right of the animal approaching the pair of containers, it is possible that only this condition was affected by a negative transfer of learning.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 86%

Association, inhibition, and object permanence in dogs' (Canis familiaris) spatial search.

Ashton¹,

Lillo²

2011

Journal of Comparative Psychology

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The relative role of associative processes and the use of explicit cues about object location in search behavior in dogs (Canis familiaris) was assessed by using a spatial binary discrimination reversal paradigm in which reversal conditions featured: (1) a previously rewarded location and a novel location, (2) a previously nonrewarded location and a novel location, or (3) a previously rewarded location and a previously nonrewarded location. Rule mediated learning predicts a similar performance in these different reversal conditions whereas associative learning predicts the worst performance in Condition 3. Evidence for an associative control of search emerged when no explicit cues about food location were provided (Experiment 1) but also when dogs witnessed the hiding of food in the reversal trials (Experiment 2) and when they did so in both the prereversal and the reversal trials (Experiment 3). Nevertheless, dogs performed better in the prereversal phase of Experiment 3 indicating that their search could be informed by the knowledge of the food location. Experiment 4 confirmed the results of Experiments 1 and 2, under a different arrangement of search locations. We conclude that knowledge about object location guides search behavior in dogs but it cannot override associative processes.

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Landmark Discrimination Learning in the Dog

Cited by 80 publications

References 17 publications

The Role of Visual Cues in the Comprehension of the Human Pointing Signals in Dogs

The Role of Visual Cues in the Comprehension of the Human Pointing Signals in Dogs

Landmark-based search memory in the domestic dog (Canis familiaris).

Association, inhibition, and object permanence in dogs' (Canis familiaris) spatial search.

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