Dogs can know the meaning of a human perspective, say researchers.
Dogs are more capable of understanding situations from a human's point of view than has previously been recognized, according to researchers.
They found dogs were four times more likely to steal food they had been forbidden, when lights were turned off so humans in the room could not see.
This suggested the dogs were able to alter their behavior when they knew their owners' perspective had changed.
The study, published in Animal Cognition, conducted tests on eighty-four dogs.
The experiments had been trying to find whether dogs could make their behavior suitable to react to the changed circumstances of their human owners. It wanted to see if dogs had a "flexible understanding" that could show they understood the viewpoint of a human.
It found that when the lights were turned off, dogs in a room with their human owners were much more likely to disobey and steal forbidden food.
The study says it is "unlikely that the dogs simply forgot that the human was in the room" when there was no light. Instead it seems as though the dogs were able to differentiate between when the human was unable or able to see them.
Juliane Kaminski carried out the research into how dogs are influenced by human circumstances.
Dr Juliane Kaminski, from the University of Portsmouth's psychology department, said the study was "incredible because it implies dogs understand the human can't see them, meaning they might understand the human perspective".
Previous studies have suggested that although humans might think that they can recognize different expressions on their dogs' faces, this is often inaccurate and a projection of human emotions.
“Humans constantly attribute(归属) certain qualities and emotions to other living things. We know that our own dog is clever or sensitive, but that's us thinking, not them,” said Dr Kaminski.
“These results suggest humans might be right, where dogs are concerned, but we still can't be completely sure if the results mean dogs have a truly flexible understanding of the mind and others' minds. It has always been assumed only humans had this ability.
小题1:According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
A．The researchers made the test on dogs in eighty-four countries.
B．Dogs always obey and don’t steal forbidden food.
C．Dogs may adapt their behavior in response to the changed circumstances.
D．The research is carried out to find out how dogs are influenced by light.小题2:Which of the following can best serve as the title of the passage?
A．Dogs---Our Loyal Companions Understand Us Most.
B．Dogs Are Our Best Friends.
C．Dogs Can Understand Us In a Way, Researchers Say.
D．Dogs Have Certain Qualities and Emotions of Human Beings, Researchers Say.小题3:Where can we probably read this kind of articles?
A．Textbooks.
B．Advertisements.
C．Instructions.
D．Magazines.小题4:This passage can be classified as .
A．an argumentative writing
B．a feature story
C．a dog show review
D．a research result