Domestic Dogs Use Contextual Information and Tone of Voice when following a Human Pointing Gesture

2011

Dogs Use Context and Tone of Voice When Following Human Pointing

Sample size: 48 publication 10 minutes Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Linda Scheider, Susanne Grassmann, Juliane Kaminski, Michael Tomasello

Primary Institution: Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Do dogs take contextual information into account when following human pointing gestures?

Dogs search longer and more often in the direction indicated by a human pointing gesture when they have previously experienced a food context.

Dogs searched longer in the context trials where food was previously found.
Dogs showed more searching behavior in response to high-pitched informative tones.
In the control condition, dogs searched less when no pointing gesture was made.

Dogs are smart and can understand when a human points, especially if they remember where they found food before.

The study used a 2x2x2 design to test dogs' responses to pointing gestures in different contexts and tones of voice.

Potential bias from the experimenter's tone of voice and the controlled setting.

The study was conducted in a controlled environment, which may not reflect real-world situations.

48 dogs (25 females, 23 males) of various breeds and ages (average age 4.7 years).

p<0.001

p<0.05

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