Ittyerah Miriam, Gaunet Florence
Department of Psychology, Christ University, Bangalore 560029, India.
Anim Cogn. 2009 Mar;12(2):257-65. doi: 10.1007/s10071-008-0188-6. Epub 2008 Sep 4.
The study raises the question of whether guide dogs and pet dogs are expected to differ in response to cues of referential communication given by their owners; especially since guide dogs grow up among sighted humans, and while living with their blind owners, they still have interactions with several sighted people. Guide dogs and pet dogs were required to respond to point, point and gaze, gaze and control cues of referential communication given by their owners. Results indicate that the two groups of dogs do not differ from each other, revealing that the visual status of the owner is not a factor in the use of cues of referential communication. Both groups of dogs have higher frequencies of performance and faster latencies for the point and the point and gaze cues as compared to gaze cue only. However, responses to control cues are below chance performance for the guide dogs, whereas the pet dogs perform at chance. The below chance performance of the guide dogs may be explained by a tendency among them to go and stand by the owner. The study indicates that both groups of dogs respond similarly in normal daily dyadic interaction with their owners and the lower comprehension of the human gaze may be a less salient cue among dogs in comparison to the pointing gesture.
这项研究提出了一个问题，即导盲犬和宠物狗在对主人给出的指示性交流线索的反应上是否会有所不同；特别是因为导盲犬是在有视力的人类中长大的，并且在与盲人主人生活期间，它们仍然会与一些有视力的人互动。要求导盲犬和宠物狗对主人给出的指示性交流的指、指并注视、注视和控制线索做出反应。结果表明，两组狗之间没有差异，这表明主人的视力状况不是使用指示性交流线索的一个因素。与仅注视线索相比，两组狗在对指和指并注视线索的表现频率更高且潜伏期更短。然而，导盲犬对控制线索的反应低于随机表现水平，而宠物狗的表现处于随机水平。导盲犬低于随机表现水平的情况可能是由于它们有走到主人身边并站在其旁边的倾向。该研究表明，两组狗在与主人的正常日常二元互动中的反应相似，并且与指示手势相比，狗对人类注视的较低理解可能是一个不太突出的线索。
