title: Recall of Others' Actions after Incidental Encoding Reveals Episodic-like Memory in Dogs.
abstract: The existence of episodic memory in non-human animals is a debated topic that has been investigated using different methodologies that reflect diverse theoretical approaches to its definition. A fundamental feature of episodic memory is recalling after incidental encoding, which can be assessed if the recall test is unexpected [1]. We used a modified version of the "Do as I Do" method [2], relying on dogs' ability to imitate human actions, to test whether dogs can rely on episodic memory when recalling others' actions from the past. Dogs were first trained to imitate human actions on command. Next, they were trained to perform a simple training exercise (lying down), irrespective of the previously demonstrated action. This way, we substituted their expectation to be required to imitate with the expectation to be required to lie down. We then tested whether dogs recalled the demonstrated actions by unexpectedly giving them the command to imitate, instead of lying down. Dogs were tested with a short (1 min) and a long (1 hr) retention interval. They were able to recall the demonstrated actions after both intervals; however, their performance declined more with time compared to conditions in which imitation was expected. These findings show that dogs recall past events as complex as human actions even if they do not expect the memory test, providing evidence for episodic-like memory. Dogs offer an ideal model to study episodic memory in non-human species, and this methodological approach allows investigating memory of complex, context-rich events. VIDEO ABSTRACT.
authors.affiliation: MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest 1117, Hungary; Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1117, Hungary. Electronic address: claudia.happydog@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fugazza
authors.affiliation: Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1117, Hungary.
authors.forename: Ákos
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Pogány
authors.affiliation: MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group, Budapest 1117, Hungary; Department of Ethology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest 1117, Hungary.
authors.forename: Ádám
authors.initials: Á
authors.lastname: Miklósi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007100:Imitative Behavior; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D012153:Retention, Psychology
keywords: Do as I Do; dogs; episodic memory; imitation; incidental encoding; unexpected recall test