Marianna Molnár’s research while affiliated with Eötvös Loránd University and other places

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Publications (2)


Illustration of the experiment—problem boxes (A–C).
Association between the opening latencies and the three breeds (a) and the three box types (b)—e.g. after 60 s elapsed, usually ~ 90% of mudis have already opened the box, while at the same time, only ~ 50% of English and French bulldogs had. Also, after 60 s elapsed, usually ~ 90% of dogs have already opened box C, while at the same time, only ~ 55% of dogs opened box A and ~ 45% of dogs opened box B.
Association between the social strategy score and the three breeds—English and French bulldogs had higher scores (oriented toward the humans more) than mudis.
Association between the manipulation type and the three breeds—English and French bulldogs used their paws less than mudis.
The difference between two brachycephalic and one mesocephalic dog breeds’ problem-solving performance suggests evidence for paedomorphism in behaviour
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September 2023

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105 Reads

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8 Citations

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Marianna Molnár

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Despite serious health and longevity problems, small brachycephalic breeds are becoming increasingly popular among pet owners. Motivations for choosing short-nosed breeds have been extensively investigated in recent years; however, this issue has been addressed mainly by relying on owner reports, resulting in explanations of “cute looks”, referring to the baby-schema phenomenon and “behaviour well suited for companionship”. We aimed to compare the behaviour of two brachycephalic (English and French bulldogs) and one mesocephalic (Mudi) breed in a problem-solving context. The dogs were given the task of opening boxes containing food rewards. We investigated human-directed behaviour elements over success and latency (indicators of motivation and ability). We found that both English and French bulldogs were significantly less successful in solving the problem than mudis. Both brachycephalic breeds had longer opening latencies than the mesocephalic breed. Brachycephalic breeds oriented less at the problem box and more at humans present. In summary, the short-headed breeds were less successful but oriented much more toward humans than mesocephalic dogs. Owners might interpret these behaviours as “helplessness” and dependence. The results support the hypothesis that infant-like traits may be present not only in appearance but also in behaviour in brachycephalic breeds, eliciting caring behaviour in owners.

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Figure 2. Association between the opening latencies and the three breeds (a) and the three box types (b) -E.g. after 60 s elapsed, usually ~ 90% of mudis have already opened the box, while at the same time, only ~ 50% of English and French bulldogs had. Also, after 60 s elapsed, usually ~ 90% of dogs have already opened box C, while at the same time, only ~ 55% of dogs opened box A and ~ 45% of dogs opened box B.
Figure 3. Association between the social strategy score and the three breeds -English and French bulldogs had higher scores (oriented toward the humans more) than mudis.
Figure 4. Association between the manipulation type and the three breeds -English and
Factor loadings of principal component analysis
The difference between two brachycephalic and one mesocephalic dog breeds' problem-solving performance suggests evidence for paedomorphism in behaviour

February 2023

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249 Reads

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1 Citation

Despite the serious problems with their general health and longevity, small brachycephalic breeds, especially the French bulldog, are becoming increasingly popular among pet owners. The motivations for the choice of short-nosed breeds have been extensively investigated in recent years; however, this issue has been addressed mainly by relying on owner reports, resulting in somewhat vague explanations of "cute looks", referring to the child-schema phenomenon and "behaviour well suited for companionship". In this study, we set out to compare the behaviour of two brachycephalic (English and French bulldogs) and a mesocephalic (Hungarian mudi) breed in a problem-solving context. The dogs were given the task of opening boxes containing food rewards. We investigated human-directed behaviour elements over success and latency (indicators of motivation and ability). ... We found that the short-headed breeds were less successful but much more oriented toward humans than mesocephalic dogs. Owners might interpret these behaviours as "helplessness" and dependence. The results support the hypothesis that infant-like traits may be present not only in appearance but also in behaviour in brachycephalic breeds, eliciting a caring behaviour in owners.

Citations (2)


... However, Horschler et al. [28] did not found the correlation between morphological characteristics (e.g., head shape) and performance when the dogs were tested in a two-sided object choice test in which the owners pointed to the bowl. Ujfalussy et al. [29] found brachycephalic breeds were less successful in solving a cognitive task, but were much more attentive to humans than mesocephalic dogs, aiding in human-related task success. Bognár et al. [30] discovered that brachycephalic dogs looked longer towards human faces in the images shown, suggesting morphological influences on social interactions. ...

Reference:

Dog–Owner Relationship and Its Association with Social Cognition in French Bulldogs
The difference between two brachycephalic and one mesocephalic dog breeds’ problem-solving performance suggests evidence for paedomorphism in behaviour

... While dogs rank among the most studied species regarding their cognitive capacities [25], these studies are typically comparative in nature, focusing on differences between specific dog groups (e.g., [11,26]) or between dogs and other species [27,28]. Even though most cognitive tests revealed vast individual differences in the dogs' performance [29][30][31], researchers have rarely considered the possible causes and underlying mechanisms of this individual variation [32]. ...

The difference between two brachycephalic and one mesocephalic dog breeds' problem-solving performance suggests evidence for paedomorphism in behaviour