What's the point? Domestic dogs' sensitivity to the accuracy of human informants.

ABSTRACT: Dogs excel at understanding human social-communicative gestures like points and can distinguish between human informants who vary in characteristics such as knowledge or familiarity. This study explores if dogs, like human children, can use human social informants' past accuracy when deciding whom to trust. Experiment 1 tested whether dogs would behave differently in the presence of an accurate (vs. inaccurate) informant. Dogs followed an accurate informant's point significantly above chance. Further, when presented with an inaccurate point, dogs were more likely to ignore it and choose the correct location. Experiment 2 tested whether dogs could use informant past accuracy to selectively follow the point of the previously accurate informant. In test trials when informants simultaneously p

SUBMITTER: Pelgrim MH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7936605 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature