Characterizing dog cognitive aging using spontaneous problem-solving measures: development of a battery of tests from the Dog Aging Project.

ABSTRACT: Companion dogs are a valuable model for aging research, including studies of cognitive decline and dementia. With advanced age, some dogs spontaneously develop cognitive impairments and neuropathology resembling features of Alzheimer's disease. These processes have been studied extensively in laboratory beagles, but the cognitive assays used in that context-which rely on time-consuming operant procedures-are not easily scalable to large samples of community-dwelling companion dogs. We developed a battery of five short-form tasks targeting three aspects of cognition that are impaired in Alzheimer's disease: spatial memory, executive functions, and social cognition. In Experiment 1, we tested a cross-sectional sample of dogs (N = 123) and estimated associations between age and task performan

SUBMITTER: Hargrave SH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11872874 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature