Dogs remember more than we think

Dogs have been man's best friend for thousands of years, but can still surprise us. It turns out that our four-legged friends have episodic memory, meaning they can remember events along with their context even in a situation that doesn't matter. This is the conclusion of research by the MTA-ELTE Comparative Ethology Research Group in Budapest.

Episodic memory, or event memory, stores events that have a spatial and temporal location. According to Endel Tulving, whoóry proposed a model of episodic memory in 1972, it is responsible for a sense of identity and mental continuity. It also stores information along with its context and location on a timeline. Helps determine whether an event happened a long time ago or a few days ago.

According to a study by researchersóin Budapest published on the pages of the journal "Current Biology", dogs are more intelligent than we previously thought. Researchers to train quadrupedsóThey used the method „zrób what I”. Dogs observe their handler's actions and then repeat them on command. However, the training has been modified so that the animal remembers the actions of the handler, whoóIn each case, the dog recalled the action performed by its handler and repeated it at times when it was apparently not part of the training.

In the new version of the training, 17 dogs were trainedów. They are told to lie down regardless of what the caregiver does. Only after time had elapsed were the animals surprised with a command „zrób what I”. Dogs easily repeated actions previously performed by humans. This proves episodic memory in psów.

– Our findings are a step toward removing barriers between humans and animals. Dogs are one of the few species that canóin animals we consider smart, yet we are still surprised by new research findings when it turns out that despite the evolutionary distance, whichóthat separates us, we have some commonódifferent cognitive abilities – said Claudia Fugazza, whoóra participated in the study.

The dogs were tested after róThe agency is asking for help and has set a deadlineóat times. From a minute to an hour. In each case the dog remembered the action performed by the handler and repeated it. This shows that episodic memory is not the domain of primates.