Search

O begging test tem sido usado para testar a capacidade dos cães em interpretar a atenção humana. Pistas faciais, como o olhar e a posição da cabeça são os principais sinais na comunicação entre cães e humanos. Até o momento, a estrutura do begging test utilizado em pesquisas não permitiu verificar se há uma graduação na atenção. Desse modo, não é possível dizer se a cabeça e o olhar diretamente dirigidos (muita atenção) ao cão aumentam o desempenho em relação a somente a posição da cabeça, mas sem olhar diretamente (pouca atenção) ou cabeça plus olhar desviados (desatenção). Nesse sentido, um teste envolvendo 58 cães de raça pura (Golden Retrievers) e mista foi realizado, nas três condições de atenção, com homens e mulheres estranhos aos animais servindo de sujeitos experimentais. Resultados demonstraram que independente da raça, do sexo dos cães ou do sexo das pessoas, os cães erraram pouco na condição de desatenção. Por outro lado, o desempenho dos cães não diferiu entre as condições de muita atenção e de pouca atenção, mas foi significativamente superior do que na condição de desatenção. Em conclusão, os cães são bons interpretadores da atenção humana, mas se baseiam em pistas mais relacionadas à posição da cabeça do que o olhar. Assim, sugere-se que não há uma graduação na interpretação da atenção de humanos em cães. O estímulo emocional gerado pelo olhar direto, sustentado entre animais sociais, pode explicar porque o olhar é evitado como pista da atenção humana em um teste com pessoas estranhas ao cão.The begging test has been used to test the ability of dogs to interprete human attention. Facial cues, such as gaze and head position are the main signs in the communication between humans and dogs. Yet, the structure of the begging test used in research did not allow checking whether there are graduations of attention. Thus, it's not possible to say if the head and look directly driven (much attention) to the dog increases the performance in relation only to head position, but without looking directly (little attention) or head plus eyes diverted (inattention). Hence, a test using 58 mixed and pure bred dogs (Golden Retrievers) was performed, in three attention conditions, with men and women strangers to these animals, which served as experimental subjects. Results showed that regardless of race, dogs' gender of or people's gender, dogs have fewer errors on inattention condition Conversely, the performance of the dogs did not differ between the conditions of much attention and little attention, but was significantly higher than in the condition of inattention. In conclusion, dogs are good interpreters of human attention, but they make their choices based on cues related more to the head position than the look. Therefore, it is suggested that there isn't a interpretation degree of human attention in dogs. The emotional stimulus generated by the direct gaze, sustained among social animals, may explain why the gaze is averted as a cue of human attention in a test with strangers to the dog.

The begging test has been used to test the ability of dogs to interprete human attention. Facial cues, such as gaze and head position are the main signs in the communication between humans and dogs. Yet, the structure of the begging test used in research did not allow checking whether there are graduations of attention. Thus, it's not possible to say if the head and look directly driven (much attention) to the dog increases the performance in relation only to head position, but without looking directly (little attention) or head plus eyes diverted (inattention). Hence, a test using 58 mixed and pure bred dogs (Golden Retrievers) was performed, in three attention conditions, with men and women strangers to these animals, which served as experimental subjects. Results showed that regardless of race, dogs' gender of or people's gender, dogs have fewer errors on inattention condition Conversely, the performance of the dogs did not differ between the conditions of much attention and little attention, but was significantly higher than in the condition of inattention. In conclusion, dogs are good interpreters of human attention, but they make their choices based on cues related more to the head position than the look. Therefore, it is suggested that there isn't a interpretation degree of human attention in dogs. The emotional stimulus generated by the direct gaze, sustained among social animals, may explain why the gaze is averted as a cue of human attention in a test with strangers to the dog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]