This image shows Claudia Fugazza and her dog demonstrating the Do As I Do Method. (Image by Mirko Lui)
Memory in non-human animals is largely a black box, because in humans the biggest proof of memory we have is transmitted through language. But new evidence suggests that dogs may also have memories of moments in a time and a place, known as episodic memories. This was demonstrated through a game where dogs were tested on a memory of a trainer’s action. The animals were trained to observe a trainer’s action and then imitate it. Then, the dogs were re-trained to lie down immediately after the trainer performed an action. After the second training, the dogs once again received the command to imitate the trainer’s action, with no particular reward associated with this command. Results showed that dogs successfully recalled their trainers’ actions, and those recollection also faded over time.
Authors:
Claudia Fugazza, Ákos Pogány, Ádám Miklósi
Corresponding author:
Claudia Fugazza, MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest, Hungary, Email: claudia.happydog@gmail.com, Tel: +39 338 2064951
Original paper published in Current Biology on November 23, 2016.
