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Social attention in keas, dogs, and human children

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Abstract

Understanding animals’ abilities to cooperate with and learn from each other has been an active field of research in recent years. One important basis for all types of social interactions is the disposition of animals to pay attention to each other—a factor often neglected in discussions and experiments. Since attention differs between species as well as between individuals, it is likely to influence the amount and type of information different species and/or observers may extract from conspecifics in any given situation. Here, we carried out a standardized comparative study on attention towards a model demonstrating food-related behavior in keas, dogs and children. In a series of experimental sessions, individuals watched different conspecific models while searching, manipulating and feeding. Visual access to the demonstration was provided by two observation holes, which allowed us to determine exactly how often and for how long observers watched the model. We found profound differences in the factors that influence attention within as well as between the tested species. This study suggests that attention should be incorporated as an important variable when testing species in social situations.

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Acknowledgments

This work has received research funding from the European Community’s Sixth Framework Programme under contract number: NEST 012929, Start Presis Y366 B17, as well as from a private sponsor and Royal Canin. We are grateful to Martina Pertl und Sabina Hildebrand for collecting some of the data. We declare that the experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department für Neurobiologie und Kognitionsforschung, Universität Wien, Althanstrasse 14, 1091, Vienna, Austria

    Friederike Range, Lisa Horn, Thomas Bugnyar, Gyula K. Gajdon & Ludwig Huber

  2. School of Psychology, University of St. Andrews, South Street, Fife, KY16 9JP, St. Andrews, Austria

    Thomas Bugnyar

  3. Konrad-Lorenz-Institute for Comparative Ethology, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Savoyenstrasse 1a, 1160, Vienna, Austria

    Gyula K. Gajdon

Authors
  1. Friederike Range
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  2. Lisa Horn
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  3. Thomas Bugnyar
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  4. Gyula K. Gajdon
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  5. Ludwig Huber
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Correspondence to Friederike Range.

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Range, F., Horn, L., Bugnyar, T. et al. Social attention in keas, dogs, and human children. Anim Cogn 12, 181–192 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0181-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-008-0181-0

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