Comment on "Differential sensitivity to human communication in dogs, wolves, and human infants".
Topál et al. (Reports, 4 September 2009, p. 1269) showed that dogs, like infants but unlike wolves, make perseverative search errors that can be explained by the use of ostensive cues from the experimenter. We suggest that a simpler learning process, local enhancement, can account for errors made by dogs.
Marshall-Pescini
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Department of Biomedical Sciences and Technologies, University of Milan, 20134 Milan, Italy. sarah.marshall@unimi.it
Passalacqua
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Valsecchi
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Prato-Previde
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D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D003071:Cognition; D003142:Communication; D003463:Cues; D004285:Dogs; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007858:Learning; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D012107:Research Design; D012919:Social Behavior