Lifespan development of attentiveness in domestic dogs: drawing parallels with humans

Wallis, Lisa; Range, Friederike; Müller, Corsin A.; Serisier, Samuel; Huber, Ludwig; Zsó, Virányi · 2014 · OpenAlex-citations

DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00071

archive: archived pipeline: cataloged verified

Get this paper ↗ (DOI — opens at the source; we link to it, we don't host it)

Summary

This study investigates the lifespan development of attentiveness in domestic dogs, aiming to draw parallels with human cognitive aging. Motivated by the dog’s utility as a model for human healthspan and aging due to shared evolutionary and developmental histories, the researchers sought to map the trajectories of attentional capture, sustained attention, selective attention, and sensorimotor abilities from puppyhood to geriatric age. The study addresses a gap in comparative psychology, where previous research on non-human mammals often relied on laboratory animals, small sample sizes, or tests requiring extensive training that obscured natural developmental patterns. The researchers conducted a cross-sectional study involving 145 pet Border Collies aged 6 months to 14 years, divided into seven age groups. Using naturalistic testing protocols adapted from human literature, they assessed attention without requiring extensive prior training. Experiment 1 measured attentional capture and sustained attention using two stimuli: a moving non-social object (Event 1) and a moving human experimenter (Event 2). Metrics included latency to orientation, average gaze-bout duration, and percentage of total looking time. Experiment 2 evaluated selective attention and sensorimotor abilities during task-switching scenarios. Statistical analyses employed linear mixed effects models to determine linear and quadratic relationships between age and performance, while controlling for training history and medical status. Results indicated that attentional capture followed a quadratic trajectory with age, though differences were minimal. Sustained attention showed significant divergence based on stimulus relevance: attention to the non-social object declined with age, whereas attention to the human remained stable, suggesting life-long learning processes help dogs filter irrelevant stimuli. In Experiment 2, selective attention and sensorimotor abilities peaked in middle age (3–6 years) and declined in older dogs, following a quadratic distribution. Sensorimotor performance was correlated with selective attention, supporting the hypothesis that these control mechanisms are interrelated. Crucially, the developmental trajectories for attentional capture, sustained attention, and sensorimotor control in dogs paralleled those previously documented in humans, including the peak performance in early adulthood and subsequent decline. The study concludes that the development and senescence of attentional and sensorimotor control are fundamentally linked in dogs, mirroring human patterns. This similarity suggests that humans and dogs likely share underlying regulatory mechanisms for attention, reinforcing the dog’s value as a comparative model for studying cognitive aging and disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease. By providing the first comprehensive description of age-related changes in attention across the pet dog lifespan, the research establishes a baseline for future longitudinal studies and comparisons with dogs suffering from canine cognitive dysfunction.

Provenance

The full processing record for this entry. Every stage of this paper's journey through the pipeline is logged — what ran, with which tool and model, how many attempts it took, and when it last completed.

Summary generated by qwen3.6-27b-prismaquant on 2026-06-26; verification: verified.

Topics

Ranked by relevance to this paper. Hover a topic for its definition.

• attention selective divided