INBIOSUR   25013
INSTITUTO DE CIENCIAS BIOLOGICAS Y BIOMEDICAS DEL SUR
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
The role of previous experiences with humans in inhibitory control of domestic dogs (Canis Familiaris)
Autor/es:
FABRICIO CARBALLO; GABRIELA BARRERA; MARIANA BENTOSELA; JÉSICA FAGNANI; CAMILA MARÍA CAVALLI
Lugar:
Padua
Reunión:
Congreso; Canine Science Forum; 2016
Institución organizadora:
Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food Sciences of the University of Padua
Resumen:
Shelter dogs showed a poorer performance in the A-not-B task compared to family dogs but no differences in the cylinder task were observed. Previous experiences with humans during ontogeny would affect the inhibitory control of dogs. Our first aim was to evaluate the importance of learning and ontogeny in performing inhibitory tasks. Also, we assessed whether there is a correlation between both tasks by comparing performance in the same subjects. To accomplish these objectives we assessed two groups of dogs with different levels of social interaction with humans, shelter and pet dogs, in two inhibitory control tasks. 1) In the A-not-B task, dogs have to resist searching for food in a previously rewarded location, and 2) in the cylinder task, dogs were required to resist approaching visible food directly in favor of a detour reaching response. Results showed that shelter dogs had a significantly poorer performance in the A-not-B task, compared with family dogs. However, no differences were observed in the cylinder task. The poorer performance of shelter dogs might be related to their scarce human contact in everyday life, which reduces the opportunities to learn to inhibit certain responses. This result would highlight the importance of ontogeny in developing that ability. On the other hand, no correlations were found between both tasks, which would contribute information to the debate about the context specificity of inhibitory control in dogs.