奇速英语

研究：狗可能没有人们想象的那么无私

Dogs are thought of as man’s best friends, devoted companions always aiming to please. But a recent study shows dogs are in it for themselves—at least when toys are involved. Researchers from the University of Portsmouth found dogs were more interested in playing games than helping humans, in one of two experiments published in a recent study.

The study involved two different experiments with family dogs. Researcher and vet Patrizia Piotti began by writing in a notepad while a pet dog watched her. In the first experiment, she left the room and the dog watched while either the notepad or a brush was hidden in one of three boxes and a toy was hidden in another. On most occasions, when the dogs were asked to find the object that was lost, they would find their own toy.

In a second experiment, the toys were removed. Ms Piotti left the room and the dog watched while only the notepad or a brush was hidden in one of three boxes, without any toy. In this case, the dogs were helpful to the person because they indicated the hidden objects without receiving any reward for it. The 48 dogs tested were more likely to draw her attention to the only box with an object inside. And they looked longer at the box holding the notebook than the one with the brush.

Ms Piotti said, “Dogs have outstanding abilities when it comes to communicating with humans. One theory is that they have adapted to life with humans by developing skills for communicating with people. There seems to be some evidence that dogs could be able to distinguish between objects based on a human’s need for them.” She added further work is needed to prove that the notebook-hunting dogs were actually trying to be helpful. So before you ask Fido to help you find your car keys or something like that, you should make sure none of his toys are nearby.