Canine cognition
and the human bond

Jeff Stevens

Department of Psychology
Center for Brain, Biology & Behavior

About me

A bit about me

Canine Cognition and Human Interaction Lab

Dog impulsivity

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What is impulsivity?

Multifaceted concept that includes

  • Response inhibition
  • Delay sensitivity
  • Risk sensitivity
  • Attention

(Strickland & Johnson 2020)

Why impulsivity in dogs?

Photos: Pete Godfrey, Michael Oxendine, Murilo Viviani

Why impulsivity in dogs?

Photos: Tamas Pap, harrydickinson

Why impulsivity in dogs?

Photos: Guillaume de Germain, Jaymi Heimbuch, Reuters

Why impulsivity in dogs?

Why impulsivity in dogs?

Photos: DHS, William Milliot, Sofia Shultz, Mohamed Nohassi

Impulsivity and obedience

Impulsivity and obedience

Research Question

Given impulsivity’s importance in relation to obedience, do owners rate more impulsive dogs as less obedient?

Measuring impulsivity

Dog Impulsivity Assessment Scale (DIAS)

Behavioral regulation, aggression, responsiveness subscales

  • I would consider my dog to be very impulsive
  • My dog does not think before it acts
  • My dog appears to have a lot of control over how it responds
  • My dog is not very patient

Wright et al. 2012

Measuring obedience

Hiby et al. Obedience

  • Toilet training
  • Chewing household objects
  • Stealing food/objects
  • Sit on command
  • Come to call
  • Leave/give-up object
  • Heel training

Bennett and Rohlf Disobedience

  • My dog does what he/she is told
  • My dog will stay when asked
  • My dog has good manners
  • My dog will sit on command
  • My dog will come when called
  • My dog soils in the house

Hiby et al. 2004, Bennett & Rohlf 2007

Study design

  • Surveyed 99 dog owners in six training classes
  • Complete DIAS surveys from 39 owners

Data from Stevens et al. 2021, Animal Cognition

Obedience and impulsivity

Data from Stevens et al. 2021, Animal Cognition

Obedience and other measures

Data from Stevens et al. 2021, Animal Cognition

Obedience and other measures

Data from Stevens et al. 2021, Animal Cognition

Owner perceptions of impulsivity

Do owners know how impulsive their dogs are?

Research Question

Owner perceptions of dog impulsivity will predict impulsivity in a behavioral task

Based on and replicated Brady et al. 2018

Stevens et al. 2022, Animal Behavior & Cognition

Measuring owner perceptions

Dog Impulsivity Assessment Scale (DIAS)

Behavioral regulation + aggression + responsiveness

Stevens et al. 2022, Animal Behavior & Cognition

Measuring spatial impulsivity

Stevens et al. 2022, Animal Behavior & Cognition

Study design

Study 1

  • Recruited 117 dogs
  • 65 dogs completed testing and owners completed DIAS
  • At UNL CCHIL

Study 2

  • Recruited 103 dogs
  • 49 dogs completed testing and owners completed DIAS
  • At Kenl Inn

Stevens et al. 2022, Animal Behavior & Cognition

Perceptions vs. reality

Stevens et al. 2022, Animal Behavior & Cognition

Owners not good at predicting dog impulsivity

Impulsivity as a trait

Impulsivity as a trait in domestic dogs

Research Question

Is impulsivity a behavioral trait in dogs?

  • Do dogs’ impulsivity levels correlate across tasks?
  • Do dogs’ impulsivity levels correlate with owner perceptions?

Barela et al. in press, Journal of Comparative Psychology

Systematic review and meta-analysis

  • Searched 9,900 records from Scopus, Web of Science, and PsychINFO
  • 13 articles conducted correlations between impulsivity tasks and/or between the Dog Impulsivity Assessment Scale (DIAS) and behavioral tasks

Barela et al. in press, Journal of Comparative Psychology

Tasks

  • A-not-B Barrier
  • A-not-B Cup
  • Box
  • Buzzer
  • Cylinder
  • Delay Discounting
  • Detour Fence
  • Leash
  • Middle Cup
  • Sit-Stay
  • Social Inhibition
  • Spatial Impulsivity
  • Wait-for-Treat

Barela et al. in press, Journal of Comparative Psychology

Task examples

Barela et al. in press, Journal of Comparative Psychology

Systematic review: task pairs

Barela et al. in press, Journal of Comparative Psychology

Systematic review: DIAS and tasks

Barela et al. in press, Journal of Comparative Psychology

Impulsivity does not seem to be a behavioral trait

Big team science

ManyDogs Project

manydogsproject.github.io

ManyDogs et al. 2023a, Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews

ManyDogs 1

Human point following

ManyDogs et al. 2023b, Animal Behavior & Cognition

ManyDogs 2

Overimitation

ManyManys

Alessandroni et al. 2024, Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews

ManyManys 1

Reversal learning

Big team science can improve our work

Conclusion

Take home message

  • Measuring behavioral traits

  • Measuring owner perceptions

  • Leveraging big team science

Current directions

Connect impulsivity and obedience to hormones and genetics

Contact

jstevens5@unl.edu


Canine Cognition and Human Interaction Lab

UNL_CCHIL

UNL.CCHIL


dogcog.unl.edu