Scientists believe dogs have an instinctive sense of how objects should behave. According to them, they will stare at a computer animated object longer if it breaks the laws.
Although humans have a mechanism called “contact causality” that they use as early as possible to sense the physical environment and its surroundings, we don’t know much about non-primate animal processes.
A team from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna developed an eye tracking system that can be used to track dogs’ eyes.
The animations showed realistic 3D renderings of Newton’s fundamental laws to dogs. They were also able to track their pupil dilations and attention span.
Through the entire study, the animals closely tracked the movement of the balls. However, pupils appeared larger when animations violated the laws of Physics.
The team stated that this finding was the first to show dogs can be sensitive to contact causality.
Scientists believe dogs have an instinctive sense of how objects should behave. According to them, they will stare at a computer animated object longer if it breaks the laws.
Contact causality is a method that humans used to understand the environment. However, little information exists about the process of non-primate primates understanding the world. Image from stock
These animations featured balls placed on a computer screen and made to bounce in various ways.
Researchers found that pets with open eyes would be more comfortable being held by their pet dog if they could see the ball rolling, bounce in unusual ways or just play on their own.
The animals can be surprised when their balls break the laws of physics.
Christoph Völter at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, told New Scientist that their discovery ‘is the starting point for learning.’
‘You have expectations about the environment – regularities in your environment that are connected to physics – and then something happens that doesn’t fit. You now pay more attention. Now you want to understand what is happening.
Studies have shown that babies between six and nine months old are more likely to stare at basic laws violations than humans.
The new study involved 14 border collies and adult dogs being trained to put their heads on a chin rest before eye tracking equipment.
Videos were presented in random order.
Another video shows the ball rolling off by itself in another video. This is contrary to the laws of physics.
In similar studies with humans and chimps, the dogs behaved as people or chimps. Their eyes were fixed on any balls moving in an illogical way.
The team claimed that the pupils dilation in dogs was convincing enough to make them believe they were experiencing the wrong scenarios.
According to the authors, it does not necessarily mean the dog understands physics but rather an implicit understanding.
“This is kind of” [an] intuitive understanding expectation,’ Völter told New Scientist.
“But it’s also true for human beings, right?” At 7 months old, the infant has high expectations and can sense when they are being violated.
“I think that they are able to build on their expectations and have a better understanding of their environment.
The journal Biology Letters published the findings.