BEIJING, Nov. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- Researchers trying to get a better glimpse into how smart dogs are without being influenced by their owner or handler, turned recently to using touch-screen computers to classify color photographs for a study of animal cognition.

"Using touch-screen computers with dogs opens up a whole world of possibilities on how to test the cognitive abilities of dogs by basically completely controlling any influence from the owner or experimenter," the University of Vienna, Austria, researchers write in the most recent online issue of the journal Animal Cognition.

Because a foolproof method for testing has thus far been unavailable, trying to understand what goes on inside the canine brain has been frustrating for researchers. Until now, methods relied on the dog's owner or an experimenter to cue the animal, a variable that could influence the results.

In order to test whether dogs can visually categorize pictures, and transfer their knowledge to new situations, four dogs were shown landscape and dog photographs, and expected to make a selection on a computer touch-screen.

In the training phase the dogs were shown a landscape photo and dog photo simultaneously on a computer screen. When they paw-selected the dog, they received a treat.

To test whether the canines could transfer the learned info to a new situation, the researchers flashed onto the screens a different set of dog-landscape photographs, and the test subjects selected the dog photographs.

Then researchers pasted dog pictures onto the landscape pictures used in the training phase, and once again the dogs went to the dogs.

The results indicate, according to the authors, the dogs were able to form a concept of a "dog." Whether the dogs recognized the photos as actual dogs, however, is an unknown.

(Agencies)