Do dogs learn from other dogs or humans and if so, how?

In
Max Planck Institute
A major research goal of the Max Planck Institute for the
Science of Human History, is to answer questions about
the evolutionary history of a broad range of biological
and cultural phenomena with cutting-edge analytical
and bioinformatics methods.
Former Department of Comparative and
Developmental Psychology
our studies we allow dogs to observe other dogs or humans
solving a problem before we present them with the same
problem.
Metacognitive abilities
Do dogs have access to their own perceptual and knowledge
states? The focus here is not on what dogs understand about
others, but on what they know about themselves. Are they
aware, for example, of what they have seen in the past?

One aim of the DCDP is to investigate the evolution of

different cognitive processes. We study various of animal
species, mostly great apes but also goats, seals, and dogs.
Dogs’ living with humans for at least 15000 years may have
led to the selection of cognitive abilities by humans or even
the coevolution of dogs’ and humans’ cognitive abilities. We
know from different studies that dogs are sensitive to the
attentional state of humans. We also know that dogs
understand communicative cues. This ability has not been
found in nonhuman primates and wolves.
Dog research at the Max Planck Institute is strictly
observational. There is no invasive research of any kind. We
give the dogs various tasks to solve and observe how they
interact with their environment, other dogs or a human. There
is always a reward, usually a treat or a toy.
Our research focuses on the following topics:
Human-dog communication
Physical Cognition
How do dogs perceive and understand their environment?
What do they know about physical relations? For instance,
what do they know about how objects continue to exist after
disappearing from view? Can they use causal cues such as a
cup containing food making a noise when shaken?
Cooperation
How do dogs cooperate with each other and with other
species such as humans? Do they coordinate activities that
they cannot perform alone? Are they aware of their partners'
role during the process? Is there a motivation to help
humans? Do they recognise that a human needs help to
achieve a goal?
We are also interested in how cooperation developed and
changed during domestication. For this purpose we run
comparative studies with the dog’s ancestor, the wolf.

How flexible is dogs' understanding of human

communication? In a typical set-up we hide food in one of Max Planck Institute for the
several containers and then give the dog a cue to where it is,
e.g. a pointing gesture. Dogs are more skillful than wolves
Science of Human History
and even chimpanzees in making use of human pointing
gestures. We investigate how dogs perceive such gestures and
whether they understand their referential nature. Smell and cognition
We are also interested in dogs' ability to comprehend other How do dogs perceive the world using their powerful
forms of human communication including object labels and olfactory sense and what do they understand about it? Do
non-linguistic gestures such as symbolic and other non- they, for example, have a representation of something or
directional representations. someone when they smell something? The central question is
how dogs` excellent olfactory sense and their cognitive skills
Visual perspective taking are linked together. This project is supported by the Albert-
Heim-Stiftung.
Are dogs sensitive to what others can and cannot see? In our
tests the dogs are able to see an object that the
human - who is present - cannot see because it
is behind a barrier. We are interested whether
dogs take advantage of this additional
information. It turned out, for instance, that
dogs eat forbidden food more frequently when
the human cannot see them.

Social learning
Summary of dog reseach at Max Planck
(unclear as to what exact institutions are involved, but never mind)

Dogs have lived with humans for at least 15000 years. This has led to their selection by humans for cognitive abilities or the
coevolution of their and humans’ cognitive abilities. We know they are sensitive to humans’ attentional states. We also know
they understand communicative cues, an ability not found in either nonhuman primates or wolves.

Human-dog communication
How flexibly do dogs understand human communication?

In a typical set-up we hide food in one of several containers and then give the dog a cue to where it is, e.g. a pointing gesture.
Dogs are more skillful than wolves and even chimpanzees in making use of human pointing gestures. We investigate how dogs
perceive such gestures and whether they understand their referential nature. We are also interested in dogs' ability to
comprehend other forms of human communication including object labels and non-linguistic gestures such as symbolic and
other non-directional representations.

Visual perspective taking

Are dogs sensitive to what others can and cannot see?

In our tests the dogs are able to see an object that the human – who is present – cannot see because it is behind a barrier. Do
they take advantage of this additional information. It turns out that they eat forbidden food more frequently
when the human cannot see them.

Social learning
Do dogs learn from other dogs or humans and if so, how?

We allow dogs to observe other dogs or humans solving a problem before we present them with the same problem.

Metacognitive abilities
Do dogs have access to their own perceptual and knowledge states?

The focus here is not on what dogs understand about others, but on what they know about themselves. Are they aware, for
example, of what they have seen in the past?

Physical Cognition
How do dogs perceive and understand their environment?
What do they know about physical relations? For instance, what do they know about how objects continue to exist after
disappearing from view? Can they use causal cues such as a cup containing food making a noise when shaken?

Cooperation
How do dogs cooperate with each other and with other species such as humans?
Do they coordinate activities that they cannot perform alone? Are they aware of their partners' role during the process? Is there
motivation to help humans? Do they recognise that a human needs help to achieve a goal?
We are also interested in how cooperation developed and changed during domestication. For this purpose we run comparative
studies with the dog’s ancestor, the wolf.

Smell and cognition

How do dogs perceive the world using their powerful olfactory sense and what do they understand about it?
Do they, for example, have a representation of something or someone when they smell something? The central question is how
dogs` excellent olfactory sense and their cognitive skills are linked together. This project is supported by the Albert-Heim-
Stiftung.
 Articles

 Lampe, M.; Bräuer, J.; Kaminski, J.; Virányi, Z.: The effects of domestication and ontogeny on cognition in dogs and wolves. Scientific Reports
(2017) [Link]
 Bräuer, J.; Silva, K.; Schweinberger, S. R.: Communicating canine and human emotions: Commentary on Kujala on Canine Emotions. Animal
Sentience: An Interdisciplinary Journal on Animal Feeling (2017) [Link]
 Tempelmann, S., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2014). Do Domestic Dogs Learn Words Based on Humans’ Referential Behaviour. PLoS ONE,
9(3), e91014.
 Hertel, A., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2014). Generalize or Personalize-Do Dogs Transfer an Acquired Rule to Novel Situations and Persons?.
PLoS ONE, 9(7).
 Nitzschner, M.,Kaminski, J., Melis, A., & Tomasello, M. (2014). Side matters: potential mechanisms underlying dogs' performance in a social
eavesdropping paradigm. Animal Behaviour, 90, 263-271. [pdf]
 Rossano, F., Nitzschner, M., & Tomasello, M. (2014). Domestic dogs and puppies can use human voice direction referentially. Proceedings of the
Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 281(1785), 20133201.[pdf]
 Kaminski, J., Pitsch, A., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Dogs steal in the dark. Animal cognition, 16(3), 385-394. [pdf]
 Kaminski, J., & Nitzschner, M. (2013). Do dogs get the point? A review of dog–human communication ability. Learning and Motivation, 44(4),
294-302. [pdf]
 Scheider, L., Kaminski, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Do domestic dogs interpret pointing as a command?. Animal cognition, 16(3), 361-
372. [pdf]
 Bräuer, J., Bös, M., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) coordinate their actions in a problem-solving task. Animal
cognition, 16(2), 273-285. [pdf]
 Bräuer, J., Keckeisen, M., Pitsch, A., Kaminski, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2013). Domestic dogs conceal auditory but not visual information
from others. Animal cognition, 16(3), 351-359. [pdf]
 Grassmann, S., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2012). How two word-trained dogs integrate pointing and naming. Animal cognition, 15(4), 657-
665. [pdf]
 Kaminski, J., Schulz, L., & Tomasello, M. (2012). How dogs know when communication is intended for them. Developmental science, 15(2), 222-
232. [pdf]
 Nitzschner, M., Melis, A. P., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2012). Dogs (Canis familiaris) evaluate humans on the basis of direct experiences
only. PloS one, 7(10), e46880. [pdf]
 Scheider, L., Grassmann, S., Kaminski, J., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Domestic dogs use contextual information and tone of voice when following a
human pointing gesture. PloS one, 6(7), e21676. [pdf]
 Mersmann, D., Tomasello, M., Call, J., Kaminski, J., & Taborsky, M. (2011). Simple mechanisms can explain social learning in domestic dogs
(Canis familiaris). Ethology, 117(8), 675-690. [pdf]
 Pettersson, H., Kaminski, J., Herrmann, E., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Understanding of human communicative motives in domestic dogs. Applied
Animal Behaviour Science, 133(3), 235-245. [pdf]
 Bräuer, J., & Call, J. (2011). The magic cup: Great apes and domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) individuate objects according to their properties.
Journal of Comparative Psychology, 125(3), 353. [pdf]
 Kaminski, J., Neumann, M., Bräuer, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Dogs,(Canis familiaris), communicate with humans to request but not to
inform. Animal Behaviour, 82(4), 651-658. [pdf]
 Kaminski, J., Nitzschner, M., Wobber, V., Tennie, C., Bräuer, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2011). Do dogs distinguish rational from irrational acts?.
Animal Behaviour, 81(1), 195-203. [pdf]
 Hare, B., Rosati, A., Kaminski, J., Bräuer, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2010). The domestication hypothesis for dogs' skills with human
communication: a response to and. Animal Behaviour, 79(2), e1-e6. [pdf]
 Tennie, C., Glabsch, E., Tempelmann, S., Bräuer, J., Kaminski, J., & Call, J. (2009). Dogs,( Canis familiaris), fail to copy intransitive actions in
third-party contextual imitation tasks. Animal Behaviour, 77(6), 1491-1499. [pdf]
 Kaminski, J., Bräuer, J., Call, J. & Tomasello, M. (2009). Domestic dogs are sensitive to a human's perspective. Behaviour 146, 979-998. [pdf]
 Rooijakkers, E. F., Kaminski, J., & Call, J. (2009). Comparing dogs and great apes in their ability to visually track object transpositions. Animal
cognition, 12(6), 789-796. [pdf]
 Kaminski, J., Tempelmann, S., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2009). Domestic dogs comprehend human communication with iconic signs.
Developmental science, 12(6), 831-837. [pdf]
 Kaminski, J., Fischer, J., & Call, J. (2008). Prospective object search in dogs: mixed evidence for knowledge of What and Where. Animal
cognition, 11(2), 367-371. [pdf]
 Riedel, J., Schumann, K., Kaminski, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2008). The early ontogeny of human–dog communication. Animal Behaviour,
75(3), 1003-1014. [pdf]
 Bräuer, J., Kaminski, J., Riedel, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2006). Making inferences about the location of hidden food: social dog, causal ape.
Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120(1), 38. [pdf]
 Hare, B., & Tomasello, M. (2005). Human-like social skills in dogs?. Trends in cognitive sciences, 9(9), 439-444. [pdf]
 Bräuer, J., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2004). Visual perspective taking in dogs (Canis familiaris) in the presence of barriers. Applied Animal
Behaviour Science, 88(3), 299-317. [pdf]

Books

 Kaminski, J., & Brauer, J. (2011). So klug ist Ihr Hund, Kosmos.
 Kaminski, J., & Brauer, J. (2006). Der kluge Hund: Wie Sie ihn verstehen können, Rowohlt.