Citizen Science as a New Tool in Dog Cognition Research

Family dogs and dog owners offer a potentially powerful way to conduct citizen science to answer questions about animal behavior that are difficult to answer with more conventional approaches. Here we evaluate the quality of the first data on dog cognition collected by citizen scientists using the D...

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Published inPloS one Vol. 10; no. 9; p. e0135176
Main Authors Stewart, Laughlin, MacLean, Evan L, Ivy, David, Woods, Vanessa, Cohen, Eliot, Rodriguez, Kerri, McIntyre, Matthew, Mukherjee, Sayan, Call, Josep, Kaminski, Juliane, Miklósi, Ádám, Wrangham, Richard W, Hare, Brian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Public Library of Science 16.09.2015
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects
Analysis
Animal behavior
Animal cognition
Animals
Behavior
Behavior, Animal
Bias
Cognition
Cognitive ability
Cognitive tasks
Crowdsourcing
Dogs
Dogs - physiology
Factor analysis
Female
Health aspects
Male
Psychology
Quality Control
Research Design
Science
Scientists
Smartphones
Studies
United States
United Kingdom > UK
United States > US
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Summary:Family dogs and dog owners offer a potentially powerful way to conduct citizen science to answer questions about animal behavior that are difficult to answer with more conventional approaches. Here we evaluate the quality of the first data on dog cognition collected by citizen scientists using the Dognition.com website. We conducted analyses to understand if data generated by over 500 citizen scientists replicates internally and in comparison to previously published findings. Half of participants participated for free while the other half paid for access. The website provided each participant a temperament questionnaire and instructions on how to conduct a series of ten cognitive tests. Participation required internet access, a dog and some common household items. Participants could record their responses on any PC, tablet or smartphone from anywhere in the world and data were retained on servers. Results from citizen scientists and their dogs replicated a number of previously described phenomena from conventional lab-based research. There was little evidence that citizen scientists manipulated their results. To illustrate the potential uses of relatively large samples of citizen science data, we then used factor analysis to examine individual differences across the cognitive tasks. The data were best explained by multiple factors in support of the hypothesis that nonhumans, including dogs, can evolve multiple cognitive domains that vary independently. This analysis suggests that in the future, citizen scientists will generate useful datasets that test hypotheses and answer questions as a complement to conventional laboratory techniques used to study dog psychology.
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Conceived and designed the experiments: LS ELM DI VW EC KR MM SM JC JK AM RWW BH. Analyzed the data: ELM SM MM LS BH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LS ELM DI VW EC KR MM SM JC JK AM RWW BH. Wrote the paper: LS ELM DI VW EC KR MM SM JC JK AM RWW BH.
Competing Interests: The authors have the following interests: Co-authors Laughlin Stewart, David Ivy, Vanessa Woods, and Eliot Cohen are employed by Canines, Inc. Co-author Matthew McIntyre is employed by 23 and me, Inc. Vanessa Woods and Brian Hare are co-founders of Dognition and own part of the Dognition company via Canines, Inc. Richard Wrangham, Adam Miklosi, Josep Call, and Juliane Kaminski are all acting members of the Dognition Scientific Advisory Board and own shares in the company. Laughlin Stewart, David Ivy, Eliot Cohen, and Kerri Rodriguez are also shareholders in the company. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0135176