Dogs see pictures like we do

In the science corner, a very interesting study by the University of Vienna in Austria shows that dogs can categorize complex color pictures as we humans do.



The experiment is summarized in three phases:

1. During a training session, dogs were shown pictures of landscapes and pictures of dogs. Using an automated touch-screen (to eliminate human intervention), the dogs received a treat each time they chose a dog picture.
   
2. Once training was complete, the dogs were shown completely different dog and landscape pictures. They continued to choose the dog pictures, showing that the knowledge gained in the training session was transferable to new images.
3. In the second experiment, the landscape pictures shown in the training session were altered to include pictures of dogs. This added significant complexity since it combined an image that received no treat (landscape) with an image that did receive a treat (dog). The new composite images were shown alongside new landscape pictures without dogs. The dogs were able to figure it out and stay consistent with choosing the pictures with the dogs.

I think this could be modified to become a very cool dog trick at home. Chocolate is food-motivated enough to be trained to at least step on a dog picture fairly consistently (avoiding the very expensive touch screen option)... could be a fun addition to his "dead dog" pose...