Studies on the visual acuity and numerical cognition in dogs using an operant conditioning method

使用了两只雌性和一只雄性柴犬。这些狗经过训练，可以区分与饲料有关的大小相等的兰多特圆环和普通圆环。两个目标的左右位置根据Gellermann级数进行移动。这些狗每天接受一到两个阶段，每个阶段包括30次试验。判别成功的标准为连续三次，正确选项大于21个（P<0.05，卡方检验）。首先，狗被训练去学习积极的目标（普通的戒指）和奖励之间的关系。在接下来的训练中，训练狗在1.8米的距离内区分两个环，对应的视力评分为0.01。在狗被完全训练后，它们的视觉灵敏度是通过改变环的大小或与目标的距离来确定的。3只狗的最佳视力得分分别为0.33、0.24和0.23。这个分数略好于其他一些农场动物的结果。对雌性柴犬进行训练，使其能够区分画有不同数量点的两个面板。每个面板都是从30种不同的面板中选择的，这些面板具有相同数量的点。每节的试验次数和成功辨别的标准与视力测试相同。这项研究的结果表明，狗可以识别多达七到八种。狗的学习过程和心率之间没有显著的相关性。然而，心率受到一些活动的影响，如“按开关”、“摇晃”和“站立”。因此，这些活动可能反映了狗在学习过程中的情绪水平。

Tow female and a male Shiba breed dogs were used. The dogs were trained to discriminate between a Landolt ring and an ordinary ring of equal size associated with feed. The left and right positions of the two targets were shifted according to the Gellermann series. The dogs were subjected daily to one or two sessions which consisted of 30 trials each. The criterion of successful discrimination was three consecutive sessions with more than 21 correct choices(P<0.05, Chi-square test). At first, the dogs were trained to learn the relationship between a positive target(ordinary ring) and a reward. In the following training, the dogs were trained to discriminate between both rings at a distance of 1.8 m, which corresponds to a visual acuity score of 0.01. After the dogs were fully trained, their visual acuity was determined by changing the size of the rings or the distance from the target. The best scores of visual acuity for three dogs were 0.33, 0.24 and 0.23, respectively. The score is slightly better than the results of some other farm animals.For female Shiba breed dogs were trained to discriminate between two panels on which different number of dots were drawn. Each panel was selected from 30 different patterns of panels with the same number of dots. The number of trials in each session and the criterion of successful discrimination were the same as the visual acuity test. The results of this study shows that dogs can recognize up to seven or eight.No significant correlations between learning process and heart rate were observed in dogs. However, heart rate was affected by some activities such as "switch press", "baaing" and "standing". Therefore, it was suggested that these activities might be reflected the emotional level of dogs in learning process.