title: Acquisition of a visual discrimination and reversal learning task by Labrador retrievers.
abstract: Optimal cognitive ability is likely important for military working dogs (MWD) trained to detect explosives. An assessment of a dog's ability to rapidly learn discriminations might be useful in the MWD selection process. In this study, visual discrimination and reversal tasks were used to assess cognitive performance in Labrador retrievers selected for an explosives detection program using a modified version of the Toronto General Testing Apparatus (TGTA), a system developed for assessing performance in a battery of neuropsychological tests in canines. The results of the current study revealed that, as previously found with beagles tested using the TGTA, Labrador retrievers (N = 16) readily acquired both tasks and learned the discrimination task significantly faster than the reversal task. The present study confirmed that the modified TGTA system is suitable for cognitive evaluations in Labrador retriever MWDs and can be used to further explore effects of sex, phenotype, age, and other factors in relation to canine cognition and learning, and may provide an additional screening tool for MWD selection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Biomedical Sciences, North Carolina State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, 1060 William Moore Drive, Raleigh, NC, 27607, USA, llazaro@ncsu.edu.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lazarowski
authors.forename: Melanie L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.forename: Margaret E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Gruen
authors.forename: Barbara L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Sherman
authors.forename: Beth C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Case
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Fish
authors.forename: Norton W
authors.initials: NW
authors.lastname: Milgram
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Dorman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003071:Cognition; D004193:Discrimination Learning; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological; D004285:Dogs / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D012193:Reversal Learning; D014796:Visual Perception