7.3 Behind the scenes of the Dog Cognition Centre
You are nearly at the end of this course about animal minds. In this final section you will explore some research that at has looked at whether domestic dogs show evidence of having a Theory of Mind (ToM), and you’ll then consider the strengths and weaknesses of the methods used in this specific research, as well as laboratory-based and naturalistic studies more generally.
In this video, Juliane Kaminski talks about the research she has been carrying out on dog cognition at Portsmouth University. This research has offered insights into whether dogs understand ‘seeing’ as a mental state.
Research with domestic dogs is of interest to psychologists because, unlike primates such as chimpanzees (and some non-primates, such as elephants), dogs have a long history of living alongside humans. For them, interacting with humans can reasonably be considered to be a part of their natural environment.
Watch the video and then have a go at answering the questions in Activity 14.

Transcript: The Dog Cognition Centre
Activity 14 Social cognition in dogs
1. Why is the study of cognition in animals relevant to understanding the evolution of human cognition?
Answer
In the video, Kaminski points out that, in order to better understand the evolution of cognition in humans, it is useful to compare human cognition with cognition in non-human species in order to see where the differences are.
2. According to this video, what is special about dogs in particular, compared with other species?
Answer
Dogs were the first species that humans domesticated, around 20 or 30 thousand years ago; they may therefore have evolved specialised cognitive skills as they adapted to life with humans.
3. What is a disadvantage of naturalistic studies that observe behaviour in the wild?
Answer
It is often not possible to control the different factors in the wild in order to determine which variables may be having a particular effect.
4. What are the strategies used by researchers at the Dog Cognition Centre to try to make their data as valid as possible?
Answer
Three strategies are used:
- As many dogs as possible are used in the studies.
- Different experimental conditions are presented to dogs in different orders, which is called
counterbalancing . This allows the researcher to rule out the influence oforder effects , whereby the order of presentation of conditions has an influence on the results (e.g. dogs may always perform differently in the condition presented first, whichever it is; so if, for each dog, a different condition is presented first, this effectively cancels out any such effects across the range of dogs used in the study). - Measures (such as counterbalancing and controlling all other variables) are taken to ensure that only the variable(s) of interest can affect the dependent variable (DV).
5. What does Kaminski say about ecological validity in relation to studies with dogs?
Answer
Ecological validity might be less of an issue in controlled laboratory studies with domestic dogs, compared with other animals, since domestic dogs’ natural environment is very similar to the laboratory setting (being in a confined space with a human/their owner).
6. Does the evidence in this video suggest that dogs have a ToM?
Answer
Kaminski says that, although dogs seem to have some level of understanding of the other’s (human’s) perspective, there is currently no evidence to suggest that they have the level of understanding necessary to constitute having a ToM.