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In what sense are dogs special? Canine cognition in comparative context.

ABSTRACT: The great increase in the study of dog cognition in the current century has yielded insights into canine cognition in a variety of domains. In this review, we seek to place our enhanced understanding of canine cognition into context. We argue that in order to assess dog cognition, we need to regard dogs from three different perspectives: phylogenetically, as carnivoran and specifically a canid; ecologically, as social, cursorial hunters; and anthropogenically, as a domestic animal. A principled understanding of canine cognition should therefore involve comparing dogs' cognition with that of other carnivorans, other social hunters, and other domestic animals. This paper contrasts dog cognition with what is known about cognition in species that fit into these three categories, with a particular emphasis on wolves, cats, spotted hyenas, chimpanzees, dolphins, horses, and pigeons. We cover sensory cognition, physical cognition, spatial cognition, social cognition, and self-awareness. Although the comparisons are incomplete, because of the limited range of studies of some of the other relevant species, we conclude that dog cognition is influenced by the membership of all three of these groups, and taking all three groups into account, dog cognition does not look exceptional.

SUBMITTER: Lea SEG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6276074 | biostudies-other | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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In what sense are dogs special? Canine cognition in comparative context.

Lea Stephen E G SEG Osthaus Britta B

Learning & behavior 20181201 4

The great increase in the study of dog cognition in the current century has yielded insights into canine cognition in a variety of domains. In this review, we seek to place our enhanced understanding of canine cognition into context. We argue that in order to assess dog cognition, we need to regard dogs from three different perspectives: phylogenetically, as carnivoran and specifically a canid; ecologically, as social, cursorial hunters; and anthropogenically, as a domestic animal. A principled ...[more]

PMID: 30251104

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Project description:ObjectiveSpontaneous brain microhemorrhages in elderly people are present to some degree in Alzheimer's disease patients but have been linked to brain atrophy in the absence of obvious cognitive decline. Brain microhemorrhages have recently been described in older dogs, but it is unclear whether these are associated with brain atrophy. Diminution of interthalamic adhesion size-as measured on MRI or CT-has been shown to be a reliable indicator of brain atrophy in dogs with canine cognitive dysfunction (CCD) in comparison with successfully aging dogs. We hypothesized that aging dogs with brain microhemorrhages presenting for neurologic dysfunction but without obvious features of cognitive decline would have small interthalamic adhesion measurements, like dogs with CCD, compared with control dogs. The objective of this study was to compare interthalamic adhesion size between three groups of aging (>9 years) dogs: (1) neurologically impaired dogs with presumptive spontaneous brain microhemorrhages and no clinical evidence of cognitive dysfunction (2) dogs with CCD (3) dogs without clinical evidence of encephalopathy on neurologic examination (control dogs). MR images from 52 aging dogs were reviewed and measurements were obtained of interthalamic adhesion height (thickness) and mid-sagittal interthalamic adhesion area for all dogs, in addition to total brain volume. Interthalamic adhesion measurements, either absolute or normalized to total brain volume were compared between groups. Signalment (age, breed, sex), body weight, presence and number of SBMs, as well as other abnormal MRI findings were recorded for all dogs.ResultsAll interthalamic adhesion measurement parameters were significantly (P < 0.05) different between control dogs and affected dogs. Both dogs with cognitive dysfunction (12/15; 80%) and dogs with isolated brain microhemorrhages had more microhemorrhages than control dogs (3/25; 12%). Affected dogs without cognitive dysfunction had significantly more microhemorrhages than dogs with cognitive dysfunction. In addition to signs of cognitive impairment for the CCD group, main clinical complaints for SBM and CCD dogs were referable to central vestibular dysfunction, recent-onset seizure activity, or both. Geriatric dogs with spontaneous brain microhemorrhages without cognitive dysfunction have similar MRI abnormalities as dogs with cognitive dysfunction but may represent a distinct disease category.

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In what sense are dogs special? Canine cognition in comparative context.

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In what sense are dogs special? Canine cognition in comparative context.

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