Camila Cavalli

University of British Columbia | UBC · Faculty of Land and Food Systems

Several behaviors occur in the aftermath of within‐group conflicts. These include spontaneous affiliation toward the victim from an uninvolved third party. When third‐party affiliations reduce the stress of the victim, this behavior has been defined as consolation. Given the absence of previous reports, the objective of the present study was to eva...

Spatial judgement bias tests (JBTs) can involve teaching animals that a bowl provides a reward in one location but does not in another. The animal is then presented with the bowl placed between the rewarded and the unrewarded locations (i.e., ambiguous locations) and their latency to approach reflects expectation of reward or ‘optimism’. Some sugge...

To promote collaboration across canine science, address replicability issues, and advance open science practices within animal cognition, we have launched the ManyDogs consortium, modeled on similar ManyX projects in other fields. We aimed to create a collaborative network that (a) uses large, diverse samples to investigate and replicate findings,...

The still-face effect has been extensively studied in human infants and comprises the reduction in affiliative behaviors and increased stress that occurs after a sudden interruption of social interaction with a caregiver. Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) are model candidates for showing this effect, as they form deep bonds with their owners and int...

To promote collaboration across canine science, address replicability issues, and advance open science practices within animal cognition, we have launched the ManyDogs consortium, modeled on similar ManyX projects in other fields. We aimed to create a collaborative network that (a) uses large, diverse samples to investigate and replicate findings,...

Prior research with highly trained dogs suggests they may be more successful than pets in independently solving problems when it is possible, yet they may engage in social strategies involving human partners when they face unsolvable tasks. One of the factors underlying these differences may be their persistence, which is usually studied as motivat...

El contagio emocional es una forma básica de empatía que ocurre cuando un individuo comparte el estado emocional de otro. Evaluar las capacidades empáticas de perros domésticos (Canis familiaris) hacia las personas resulta de particular interés dado su largo proceso de domesticación, su capacidad de formar vínculos de apego con sus dueños y la impo...

A dog’s behavior can indicate the location of hidden food to a human who is unaware of its position. These behavioral patterns are known as showing behavior, which comprise gazing towards the target location and gaze alternation between the human and the target (i.e., hidden food). Although this ability has been extensively studied in pet dogs, res...

Oxytocin is a neurohormone involved in domestic dogs’ socio-cognitive abilities which appears to be key in the display of gazing behavior as a communicative signal. However, differential effects of oxytocin have been reported in various tasks according to the dogs’ breed. In the present study, we evaluated the effect of the intranasal administratio...

When confronted with a difficult or impossible problem, dogs tend to look back at humans and try to catch their attention, instead of trying to solve it themselves. This behavior has been interpreted as a help request, but it is debated whether dogs take into account prior experiences with people when selecting whom to turn to. In the present study...

When faced with unsolvable or difficult situations dogs use different behavioral strategies. If they are motivated to obtain rewards, they either try to solve the problem on their own or tend to interact with a human partner. Based on the observation that in problem situations less successful and less perseverant dogs look more at the humans' face,...

Dogs tend to gaze at humans when they are confronted with inaccessible food during an unsolvable task, which is often interpreted as a help requesting behavior. Dogs who participate in animal-assisted interventions (AAI) interact with many people during their lives and prior studies have emphasized the importance of gazing in their communication. W...

Dogs participating in Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) are prime candidates to assess how increased interaction with people modulates canine behavior. The aim of this work was to compare the behavior of AAI and pet dogs on three tasks following the same pattern: a) an acquisition phase in which dogs were reinforced for emitting a specific respon...

An unexpected change in reward quantity or quality frequently elicits a sharp decrease of responses as well as a negative emotional state. This phenomenon is called successive negative contrast (SNC) and, although it has been observed in numerous mammals, results in dogs have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate SNC in dogs, com...

A wide variety of evidence has demonstrated that oxytocin is involved in socio-cognitive skills in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). The purpose was to evaluate the effect of oxytocin administration on socio-cognitive abilities in two populations of dogs with different levels of daily human contact: shelter and pet dogs. Additionally, the effect of...

La antrozoología se define como el estudio científico de las interacciones y vínculo humano-animal. A partir de la complejidad de su objeto de estudio, indefectiblemente, resulta un campo de investigación multidiscplinario que recibe aportes de diferentes ciencias. A su vez, la antrozoología realiza aportes a cada una de estas ciencias, permitiendo...

In the last few years, several studies have assessed dogs’ behavior when confronted with solvable or unsolvable tasks in the presence of human partners. In these situations, dogs tend to gaze towards people, which has been regarded as a help requesting behavior. This ability to attract the attention of a partner towards a target object is consisten...

Animal-assisted activities (AAAs) refer to a variety of interactions between animals and humans, intended to improve people's well-being providing recreational or educational opportunities. Domestic dogs are one of the most commonly used animals for these kinds of interventions, given their trainability and the positive effects of dog-human interac...

Social species need conflict-resolution mechanisms to maintain group cohesion and diminish aggression. Reconciliation (affiliative contact between opponents) and consolation (affiliative contact between the victim and an uninvolved third party) have been postulated for this function in various species. The purpose of this work is to study post-conf...