But he surprised us all with a unique result: In one session he was able to make 100% correct choices on the touchscreen! He not just enjoyed working on the touchscreen, he definitively understood what he had to do. The wolf Kenai needed just a little bit more time to do so. The learned very quickly and nothing could cause their concentration to alter. In a minimum of time, they were able to reach the criterion to proceed to the next phase of the experiment. In this phase alone, we were already able to get an idea about the animals’ attitude, motivation and characteristics.īoth the dog Zuri and the wolf Chitto delivered brilliant achievements. All animals were rewarded when choosing the face with neutral expression. In this early phase of the experiment, the dogs and wolves had to choose between a face with neutral expression and the back of the head. By touching one side of the touchscreen with their nose, the animals were able to make a choice on the touchscreen.īut before the animals were confronted with the emotions, they had to pass through the first phase of the experiment – the so-called “pre-training”. By doing so, two pictures could be presented and compared at the same time.
In this project, the animals worked on a touchscreen that displayed pictures divided in two parts. The focus of my scientific internship was the project for my thesis: Emotion discrimination using the touch screen apparatus – a project that helps us examine if dogs and wolves, which were hand-raised and kept under identical conditions, are able to discriminate between happy and angry human faces. With the data collection, a very educational and intense time accompanied by many challenges recently came to an end. Last year in spring, I came to the Wolf Science Center (WSC) to do my master thesis.
Home News & Diary Computer games for dogs and wolves Computer games for dogs and wolves Nadine Groß (Animal trainer-trainee)
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