Angel M. Elgier

Breed differences in dogs’ (Canis familiaris) gaze to the human face

Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) have been submitted to a vast process of artificial selection and to date, there are hundreds of breeds that differ in their physical and behavioral features. In addition, dogs possess important skills to communicate with humans. Previous evidence indicates that those abilities are related to the domestication process and are modulated by instrumental learning processes. Very few studies, however, have evaluated breed differences in the use and learning of interspecific communicative responses. In Study 1 Retrievers, German Shepherds and Poodles were compared in the acquisition and extinction of their gaze toward the human face, in a conflict situation involving food within sight but out of reach. The groups did not differ in the acquisition of the response, but throughout the extinction phase Retrievers gazed to the human significantly more than the other groups. In Study 2, similar results were obtained in a test without any previous explicit training. These results suggest that these three major popular breeds differ in gazing to humans in a communicative situation.

Incentive Contrast in Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris)

Dogs (Canis familiaris) trained to receive a preferred food (dry beef liver) from an experimenter learned to maintain a longer gaze on the experimenter than dogs receiving a less preferred food (dog pellets). Dogs downshifted from dry liver to pellets rejected food more frequently than nonshifted controls. Gaze duration also decreased in downshifted dogs below the level of a group always reinforced with pellets. In addition, downshifted dogs tended to move away from the experimenter, adopting a lying down posture. This phenomenon, called successive negative contrast, has been described in analogous experiments with a variety of mammalian species, but has failed to occur in similar experiments with nonmammalian vertebrates. Unlike similar previous observations, the present data were obtained in an environment involving interspecific communication.

Frustration Behaviors in Domestic Dogs

During extinction a previously learned behavior stops being reinforced. In addition to the decrease in the rate of the instrumental response, it produces an aversive emotional state known as frustration. This state can be assimilated with the fear reactions that occur after aversive stimuli are introduced at both the physiological and behavioral levels. This study evaluated frustration reactions of domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) during a communicative situation involving interactions with a human. The task included the reinforcement and extinction of the gaze response toward the experimenters face when the dogs tried to obtain inaccessible food. The dogs frustration reactions during extinction involved an increase in withdrawal and side orientation to the location of the human as well as lying down, ambulation, sniffing, and vocalizations compared with the last acquisition trial. These results are especially relevant for domestic dog training situations in which the extinction technique is commonly used to discourage undesirable behaviors.

Los juegos cooperativos y competitivos y su influencia en la empatía

La empatia es la capacidad de comprender las emociones y sentimientos de los demas, entendiendo al otro como un ser independiente pero similar. La misma se ve influenciada por los ambientes a los cuales se circunscribe. El presente articulo se orienta a comparar la incidencia de los juegos cooperativos y competitivos sobre la capacidad empatica en alumnos de nivel secundario. La muestra se compuso de 24 ninos varones de 13 anos distribuidos en dos grupos. Uno de los grupos recibio entrenamiento en juegos cooperativos, mientras que el otro grupo recibio entrenamiento en juegos competitivos. El instrumento de recoleccion de datos utilizado fue el Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Se obtuvieron diferencias significativas en toma de perspectiva, obteniendo medidas mas altas el grupo cooperativo en comparacion con el grupo competitivo. A su vez se hicieron comparaciones pre-test y post-test, aumentando la toma de perspectiva en el grupo cooperativo. En el grupo competitivo disminuyo la preocupacion empatica. Se discuten los resultados a la luz de distintas teorias. Se concluye que las variaciones obtenidas se deben a la idiosincrasia propia de cada dispositivo.

Seguimiento del gesto de señalar y de la mirada en estadios tempranos del desarrollo

Joint attention, defined as the visual co-ordination of two individuals directed towards an object of mutual interest, is a nuclear skill that develops during early childhood and is the basis of the future linguistic, emotional capacity of mind theory and Of the general cognition of every person. This phenomenon includes the acquisition of behaviors such as the tracking of gaze and signaling. On the other hand, social vulnerability is a risk factor studied in relation to many variables such as memory, executive functions and different pathologies. In this case, it is proposed to investigate the modulation that social vulnerability exerts on the abilities of followup of gaze and signaling in early childhood. The sample consisted of 18 infants between 9 and 13 months. Communication behaviors were measured from the follow-up of the gaze and from the infant’s pointing to distant objects marked by the evaluator. The latency and duration of follow-up behavior were measured through applied behavioral analysis. Social vulnerability was measured using the Social Economic Level Scale (NES) (INDEC, 2000). The results reflect that there are no differences in the abilities to follow the look and pointing according to the socioeconomic level. These results highlight that although the socioeconomic level produces limitations in communicative skills, there would still be no visible effects in the early stages of development. Further research must be carried out to corroborate this claim.