DOGS NEED EMBODIED DIRECTIONS: CHILDREN BUT NOT DOGS POSSESS SKILLS NEEDED FOR COMMUNICATING WITH ABSENT INTERLOCUTORS

摘要

1．Dogs need embodied directions Infants can see someone pointing to one of two buckets and infer that the toy they are seeking is hidden inside. Unlike apes (Hare & Tomasello, 2005), domestic dogs can also do this, and comprehend a variety of points produced by human limbs (Udell, Giglio & Wynne, 2008). To better understand the limitations on dogs' abilities, an experimenter did not point, look, or extend her body towards either bucket, but instead lifted and shook one via a central rope. She did this either intentionally or accidentally (in the latter case by pulling on the rope while falling), and did or did not address her act to the subject using ostensive gaze and directed speech. Children but not dogs understood the experimenter's act in intentional conditions. While ostension made no difference to children's success, it actually hindered dogs' performance. We conclude that while human children can make communicative inferences from almost any intentional act, dogs understand directional communication only where a communicator uses her body to direct them towards a referent.