Cooperative Communication with Humans Evolved to Emerge Early in Dogs

While we know that dogs evolved from wolves through a process of domestication, it remains unclear how this process may have affected dog cognitive development. Here we tested dog (N=44) and wolf (N=37) puppies, 5-18 weeks old, on a battery of temperament and cognition tasks. Dog puppies were more a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inCurrent biology Vol. 31; no. 14; pp. 3137 - 3144.e11
Main Authors Salomons, Hannah, Smith, Kyle, Callahan-Beckel, Megan, Callahan, Margaret, Levy, Kerinne, Kennedy, Brenda S., Bray, Emily, Gnanadesikan, Gitanjali E., Horschler, Daniel J., Gruen, Margaret, Tan, Jingzhi, White, Philip, MacLean, Evan, Hare, Brian
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 12.07.2021
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:While we know that dogs evolved from wolves through a process of domestication, it remains unclear how this process may have affected dog cognitive development. Here we tested dog (N=44) and wolf (N=37) puppies, 5-18 weeks old, on a battery of temperament and cognition tasks. Dog puppies were more attracted to humans, read human gestures more skillfully and made more eye contact with humans than wolf puppies. The two species were similarly attracted to objects and performed similarly on nonsocial measures of memory and inhibitory control. These results demonstrate the role of domestication in enhancing the cooperative communication skills of dogs through selection on attraction to humans, which altered developmental pathways. Domestication altered dogs’ developmental pathways to enhance their cooperative communication with humans.
ISSN:0960-9822
1879-0445
DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2021.06.051