Recall of Others' Actions after Incidental Encoding Reveals Episodic-like Memory in Dogs
Recall of Others' Actions after Incidental Encoding Reveals Episodic-like Memory in Dogs
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DOI：
10.1016/j.cub.2016.09.057
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发表时间：
2016-12-05
期刊：
影响因子：
9.2
通讯作者：
Miklosi, Adam
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Fugazza, Claudia;Pogany, Akos;Miklosi, Adam
情景记忆在非人类动物中的存在是一个有争议的话题，人们使用不同的方法来研究情景记忆的定义，这些方法反映了不同的理论方法。情景记忆的一个基本特征是附带编码后的回忆，如果回忆测试是意外的，可以对其进行评估。我们使用了一种改良版的“像我一样做”方法[2]，依靠狗狗模仿人类行为的能力，来测试狗狗在回忆别人过去的行为时是否能依靠情景记忆。狗最初被训练成在命令下模仿人类的行为。接下来，他们被训练做一个简单的训练练习（躺下），而不考虑之前演示的动作。这样，我们就把他们被要求模仿的期望换成了被要求躺下的期望。然后，我们测试了狗是否能回忆起被演示的动作，方法是意外地命令它们模仿，而不是躺下。对狗进行短（1分钟）和长（1小时）的滞留间隔测试。在两个间隔后，他们都能回忆起演示的动作；然而，与预期模仿的情况相比，他们的表现随着时间的推移而下降得更多。这些发现表明，即使狗没有预料到记忆测试，它们也能回忆起和人类行为一样复杂的过去事件，这为情景式记忆提供了证据。狗为研究非人类物种的情景记忆提供了一个理想的模型，这种方法方法允许研究复杂的、上下文丰富的事件的记忆。
The existence of episodic memory in non-human animals is a debated topic that has been investigated using different methodologies that reflect diverse theoretical approaches to its definition. A fundamental feature of episodic memory is recalling after incidental encoding, which can be assessed if the recall test is unexpected [1]. We used a modified version of the "Do as I Do" method [2], relying on dogs' ability to imitate human actions, to test whether dogs can rely on episodic memory when recalling others' actions from the past. Dogs were first trained to imitate human actions on command. Next, they were trained to perform a simple training exercise (lying down), irrespective of the previously demonstrated action. This way, we substituted their expectation to be required to imitate with the expectation to be required to lie down. We then tested whether dogs recalled the demonstrated actions by unexpectedly giving them the command to imitate, instead of lying down. Dogs were tested with a short (1 min) and a long (1 hr) retention interval. They were able to recall the demonstrated actions after both intervals; however, their performance declined more with time compared to conditions in which imitation was expected. These findings show that dogs recall past events as complex as human actions even if they do not expect the memory test, providing evidence for episodic-like memory. Dogs offer an ideal model to study episodic memory in non-human species, and this methodological approach allows investigating memory of complex, context-rich events.