Thread: The absence of reward induces inequity aversion in dogs

This is an interesting study done by a group of Austrian Scientists. Try it out yourselves. I did. It is very true !!! Let us know how you go.

The absence of reward induces inequity aversion in dogs

1. Friederike Rangea,b,1,
2. Lisa Horna,
3. Zsófia Viranyib,c, and
4. Ludwig Hubera

+Author Affiliations

1. aDepartment of Neurobiology and Cognition Research, University of Vienna, A-1091 Wien, Austria;
2. cKonrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, A-3422 Altenberg, Austria; and
3. bWolf Science Center, 4645 Grünau, Austria

1. Communicated by Frans B. M. de Waal, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, October 30, 2008 (received for review July 21, 2008)

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Abstract

One crucial element for the evolution of cooperation may be the sensitivity to others' efforts and payoffs compared with one's own costs and gains. Inequity aversion is thought to be the driving force behind unselfish motivated punishment in humans constituting a powerful device for the enforcement of cooperation. Recent research indicates that non-human primates refuse to participate in cooperative problem-solving tasks if they witness a conspecific obtaining a more attractive reward for the same effort. However, little is known about non-primate species, although inequity aversion may also be expected in other cooperative species. Here, we investigated whether domestic dogs show sensitivity toward the inequity of rewards received for giving the paw to an experimenter on command in pairs of dogs. We found differences in dogs tested without food reward in the presence of a rewarded partner compared with both a baseline condition (both partners rewarded) and an asocial control situation (no reward, no partner), indicating that the presence of a rewarded partner matters. Furthermore, we showed that it was not the presence of the second dog but the fact that the partner received the food that was responsible for the change in the subjects' behavior. In contrast to primate studies, dogs did not react to differences in the quality of food or effort. Our results suggest that species other than primates show at least a primitive version of inequity aversion, which may be a precursor of a more sophisticated sensitivity to efforts and payoffs of joint interactions.

To read on go to this link http://www.pnas.org/content/106/1/340.full