Dogs can detect when people are lying to them. This is the conclusion reached by a team of researchers from the University of Vienna (Austria). In the study, published by the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the scientists describe the experiments they have performed with hundreds of dogs and what they have learned about their ability to detect deception in unfamiliar people.
It is known, through different investigations, that human beings know when they are lying to us. People can determine, based on various clues, the veracity of other people. However, in this new study, scientists wondered if the same could happen with dogs.
To find out, they conducted experiments with 260 volunteer dogs of various breeds.
Investigation Development
In the experiments, all the dogs were taught to follow the advice of an unknown human to choose which of the two bowls contained a hidden treat. In this way, following the advice, they received the award.
They then allowed the dogs to watch as other unfamiliar people moved the treats from one bowl to another while a second unfamiliar human watched.
The researchers then ran the same experiments on the dogs, and a second person made the switch to see if the dogs would continue to follow the advice.
Conclusions
The researchers were able to conclude that the dogs were ignoring human advice if the person had not been present when the bowls were changed. In fact, they knew that the person did not know which bowl was in the treat.
But more importantly, half of the dogs ignored the humans’ advice when they learned (by observation) that the human was pointing at the wrong bowl.
This evidence indicates that the pets knew that humans were lying to them.
Previous research
On the other hand, the researchers noted that the same experiments had been carried out with children under the age of five, macaques and chimpanzees.
In those experiments, children and other animals were much more likely than dogs to follow the liar’s advice about what they knew to be true.
This could suggest that dogs rely less on unfamiliar humans for advice.
Lucrezia Lonardo et al. Dogs follow deceptive suggestions from humans more often when the informant has a false belief, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences (2021). DOI: 10.1098 / rspb.2021.0906
