Department of Psychology, Hood College, 401 Rosemont Avenue, Room RO 27, Frederick, MD 21701, USA.
Anim Cogn. 2010 May;13(3):497-505. doi: 10.1007/s10071-009-0300-6. Epub 2009 Dec 20.
Organisms must often make predictions about the trajectories of moving objects. However, often these objects become hidden. To later locate such objects, the organism must maintain a representation of the object in memory and generate an expectation about where it will later appear. We explored adult dogs' knowledge and use of the solidity principle (that one solid object cannot pass through another solid object) by evaluating search behavior. Subjects watched as a treat rolled down an inclined tube into a box. The box either did or did not contain a solid wall dividing it in half. To find the treat, subjects had to modify their search behavior based on the presence or absence of the wall, which either did or did not block the treat's trajectory. Dogs correctly searched the near location when the barrier was present and the far location when the barrier was absent. They displayed this behavior from the first trial, as well as performed correctly when trial types were intermingled. These results suggest that dogs direct their searches in accordance with the solidity principle.
生物经常需要对移动物体的轨迹进行预测。然而，这些物体经常会隐藏起来。为了以后定位这些物体，生物必须在记忆中保持对物体的表示，并对其以后出现的位置产生期望。我们通过评估搜索行为来探索成年犬对坚固性原则（即一个固体物体不能穿过另一个固体物体）的了解和使用情况。实验对象观察到一个小零食从倾斜的管子滚入一个盒子。盒子里要么有一堵将其分为两半的实心墙，要么没有。为了找到零食，实验对象必须根据墙壁的存在与否来改变他们的搜索行为，墙壁可以阻挡或不阻挡零食的轨迹。当障碍物存在时，狗会正确地在近处搜索，当障碍物不存在时，它们会在远处搜索。它们从第一次试验就表现出这种行为，并且当试验类型混合时也能正确地执行。这些结果表明，狗会根据坚固性原则来引导它们的搜索。
