A-not-B functional dogbreeds - Dobos_et_al2025

The dataset contains behavioral data and signalment data of dogs. Behavioral data were extracted from video footage recorded in the experiment.
A separate spreadsheet contains the key terms that help to understand the data labels.
Abstract of the study:
Ostensive verbal utterances can transform human actions into a natural teaching scenario for dogs. This socio-cognitive trait has been found so far in each sample of companion dogs, normally recruited on a convenience basis. However, functional selection created dog breeds with different levels of reliance on human signals (‘independent’ and ‘cooperative’ dogs). We hypothesize that this could affect dogs’ sensitivity towards human verbal communication. We tested dozens of independent and cooperative breeds in the two-choice ‘A-not-B paradigm’. The experimenter either used ostensive or neutral intonation while hiding the target. Based on the target’s position, the trial order was A-A-B-B-A. Perseverative errors in Trial 3 are interpreted as learning the rule to look for the reward at location ‘A’. Each groups’ performance dropped to chance level in Trial 3, except for cooperative dogs in the neutral speech condition. Independent dogs in the neutral speech condition followed the experimenter’s walk with the least attention. We conclude that perseverative errors can be either the consequence of rule-learning elicited by ostensive signals or reverting to the ‘win-stay’ strategy, when independent dogs did not pay attention to neutral intonation. Neutral speech may have an under-estimated relevance for dogs, and functional selection could also influence dogs’ general attentiveness towards human communication.