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Learning Capacity of a Dog Compared to Humans
Introduction
Dog cognition is how dogs acquire information and conceptual skills and store them in their memory, retrieving, combining, and making a comparison, and utilizing them in different situations (Hernik, Mikołaj, and Rubeena, 30). Studies conducted have shown that different traits of a dog are associated with intelligence (RANGE, FRIEDERIKE & ZSÓFIA 182). Their memory skills are advanced in that they can read and react to human body language, such as using gestures, pointing, and understanding different voice commands.
Cognitive skills
Learning capacity
Dogs tend to learn using simple reinforcement, such as operant and classical conditioning. They tend to learn by watching the behavior of human beings or other dogs (Kujala & Miiamaaria 11). A study was conducted to determine a dog playing with their partners would adjust behavior if their partner’s attention is distracted, and from the study, it was clear that dogs will try getting attention in cases of distraction before initiating a play signal (Traphagan & John 319).
Also, puppies tend to learn behaviors by observing experienced dogs. Getting this experience is shown to positively impact the puppies as they can execute the tasks 15 times faster than on their own (RANGE, FRIEDERIKE & ZSÓFIA 184)
Besides, dogs learn easily using words. From recent studies, it is shown that dogs easily retrieve an item provided the name. From the study, a dog could know over 340 words and connect them with their images (Traphagan & John 320).
Creative thinking
Creative thinking among dogs can copy human actions, analyze the commands given, and reading behaviors. Dogs tend to react correctly to human beings’ body language, such as pointing and gestures, and can easily understand voice commands (Kujala & Miiamaaria 12). In a particular study, puppies were presented with a box that, once pressed, a ball would be released. The puppies were given a chance to perform the same, and about half of them pressed the lever and released the ball, unlike the 6% who did not observe it being done (Traphagan & John 320).
Also, dogs can follow directions given by humans because they can analyze commands and read behaviors. In one given case, a reward was hidden under one of two buckets. The experimenter indicated the location by nodding and looking at the buckets. The dogs were able to perform this task better than human infants who participated in the process (Kujala & Miiamaaria 12).
Idea evolution
Dogs have been used in various research studies on learning, memory, perception, and awareness. These research studies are mostly those of operant and classical conditioning (Kujala & Miiamaaria 12). In the research, scientists have discovered that dogs possess some of the cognitive skills not possessed by their canine relatives, such as the great apes (RANGE, FRIEDERIKE & ZSÓFIA 186). For instance, their social cognition skills have been shown to resemble those of human infants (Hernik, Mikołaj, and Rubeena, 32). Unlike other animals, the cognition of dogs has been shaped by contact with humans. As a result, dogs’ social and physical evolution, many dogs have shown to respond to different social cues that are common among humans (proquest.com). These learning word meanings, exhibiting emotions similar to those of humans (Kujala & Miiamaaria 12).
According to research, dogs seemed to have lost their cognitive abilities after they joined humans (Traphagan & John 322). For instance, compared to the socialized wolves, dogs tend to use humans to solve their problems.
Comparison of dogs to humans
Learning capacity
The fact that puppies tend to learn more from experienced dogs is directly related to humans. For instance, in social learning institutions, the transfer of knowledge tends to be unidirectional (RANGE, FRIEDERIKE & ZSÓFIA 183). This mainly happens from the top rank employees to the lowest ranks. Likewise, the dominant dogs tend to perform better than the subordinate. This similarity brings out the dominance of dogs among humans (Traphagan & John 323).
Secondly, dogs compare to human beings in learning through fast mapping. A dog can remember over 200 labels following a single exposure. On the other hand, human beings can quickly hypotheses the meaning of a word following a single exposure (Kujala & Miiamaaria 3).
Creative thinking
In children, creative thinking is stimulated by the efforts of the teacher. Similarly, in dogs, their creative thinking is stimulated by humans’ efforts in guiding and directing them. Just like humans, dogs get bored when they are exposed to similar activities daily (RANGE, FRIEDERIKE & ZSÓFIA 184). Also, they behave like children because they want to be challenged daily with new things that motivate them. These taking walks and exercising.
Additionally, working on the creative thinking of a child is similar to that of a dog. Firstly, to challenge their minds, you should work on a new trick daily. For example, you can teach the child how to paint while, on the other hand training the dog how to follow commands (proquest.com). Similarly, you can play interactive games with both of them as you create a puzzle and figure out their way out, thus boosting their creative thinking skills (Hernik, Mikołaj, and Rubeena, 35).
Idea evolution
Evolution in humans is compared to those of their relatives, such as the gorillas. This is because they are socially linked in terms of development, just as dogs are linked to their domestication with humans. Cognitive development in human infants is the focus given to the processing of information, perceiving skills, learning languages, and facilitate the development of the aspects (Traphagan & John 324). Child processes their walking experiences by observing adults, thus resulting in object permanence. Similarly, the evolution of cognition resulted from them being in contact with humans and observing their behaviors (RANGE, FRIEDERIKE & ZSÓFIA 185). In humans, cognitive development is defined as cognizing and articulating understanding, just like adults. It is the process of how a person perceives, gains, and thinks about their world through learning and other genetic factors (Kujala & Miiamaaria 6). In humans, cognitive development occurs in four stages. These are reasoning, intelligence, language, and memory. They mainly begin at the age of 18 months old. The child tends to learn through playing with toys, listening to their parents speak, watching television, and any other thing that captures their attention.
Conclusion
To sum up, dogs possess some intelligence similar to a two-year-old human infant, unlike their close relatives like the great apes. As compared to their relatives, it isn’t easy to possess basic communication skills like them. One of the most distinct reasons for the similarities between dogs and humans is that they evolve from similar pressures that enable them to survive in a friendly way (RANGE, FRIEDERIKE & ZSÓFIA 186). Additionally, we can conclude that the things that happened during humans’ evolution were related to that of dogs’ domestication, thus accounting for the similarities. Comparing humans to their relatives, such as chimpanzees, tries to elaborate on the process of evolution. However, there is a wide range of similarities; dogs tend to be dissimilar to humans in reasoning about physical problems (Kujala & Miiamaaria 10). So we can never conclude that dogs are a better model of a human’s mind but are all about the special set of social skills available (Hernik, Mikołaj, and Rubeena, 37).
Works Cited
Hernik, Mikołaj, and Rubeena Shamsudheen. “Learning theories.” Cambridge Encyclopedia of Child Development, edited by Brian Hopkins, and Ronald G. Barr, Cambridge University Press, 2nd edition, 2017. Credo Reference, https://credo-crc.proxy.collecto.ca/content/entry/cupchilddev/learning_theories/0. Accessed 19 Nov. 2020.
https://www.proquest.com/docview/2130588089/73DAC4A094341A3PQ/103
Kujala, Miiamaaria V. “Canine emotions as seen through human social cognition.” Animal Sentience 2.14 (2017): 1. https://animalstudiesrepository.org/animsent/vol2/iss14/1/
Traphagan, John W. “Dogs, Chimps, Humans, and Alien Intelligence.” Science, Culture, and the Search for Life on Other Worlds. Springer, Cham, 2016. 71-99. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-41745-5_4
RANGE, FRIEDERIKE, and ZSÓFIA VIRÁNYI. “Social cognition and emotions dog behavior.” The Domestic Dog: Its Evolution, Behavior, and Interactions with People (2016): 182.