Dogs' insensitivity to scaffolding behaviour in an A-not-B task provides support for the theory of natural pedagogy.

ABSTRACT: Executive function plays a critical role in regulating behaviour. Behaviour which directs attention towards the correct solution leads to increased executive function performance in children, but it is unknown how other animals respond to such scaffolding behaviour. Dogs were presented with an A-not-B detour task. After learning to go through gap A to obtain the reward, the barrier was reversed, and the dogs had to inhibit their learned response and enter through gap B on the opposite side. Failure to do so is known as the perseveration error. In test trials, dogs taking part in one of two scaffolding conditions, a pointing condition, where the experimenter pointed to the new gap, and a demonstration condition, where the experimenter demonstrated the new route, were no less likely to commi

SUBMITTER: Neilands P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7807054 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature