Human Expressions of Object Preference Affect Dogs’ Perceptual Focus, but Not Their Action Choices

Recently, Flavell et al. (2019) demonstrated that an object’s motion fluency (how smoothly and predictably it moves) influences liking of the object itself. Though the authors demonstrated learning of object-motion associations, participants only preferred fluently associated objects over disfluently associated objects when ratings followed a moving presentation but not a stationary presentation. In the presented experiment, we tested the possibility that this apparent failure of associative learning / evaluative conditioning was due to stimulus choice. To do so we replicate part of the original work but change the ‘naturally stationary’ household object stimuli with winged insects which move in a similar way to the original motions. Though these more ecologically valid stimuli should have facilitated object to motion associations, we again found that preference effects were only apparent following moving presentations. These results confirm the potential of motion fluency for ‘in the moment’ preference change, and they demonstrate a critical boundary condition that should be considered when attempting to generalise fluency effects across contexts such as in advertising or behavioural interventions.

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Actualization of Existing Experience and Features of Subsequent Learning

Experimental Psychology (Russia) ◽

10.17759/exppsy.2020130309 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 13 (3) ◽

pp. 118-131

Author(s):

O.E. Svarnik ◽

A.I. Bulava ◽

D.L. Gladilin ◽

I.A. Nazhestkin ◽

E.A. Kuzina

Keyword(s):

Motor Activity ◽

Rat Brain ◽

Open Field ◽

Field Test ◽

Open Field Test ◽

Drinking Behavior ◽

Preference Test ◽

Short Term ◽

Food Acquisition ◽

Object Preference

The article presents data on the study of neurogenetic changes in the rat brain and the features of performing various behavioral acts during acquisition of a food-acquisition skill, depending on the actualization of the previously acquired skill. The experiments involved 13 animals who were successively trained in the following behaviors: new context in the open field test, new objects in the object preference test, drinking behavior using a vibrissal pad, and food-acquisition behavior of pressing the pedal. It turned out that the nature of motor activity and the severity of neurogenetic changes during learning a new skill in individuals who immediately before this training occurred short-term actualization of the experience formed at one of the previous stages of training, significantly differed from the same parameters in individuals who did not have such actualization. It is suggested that the actualization of previously formed experience before new training contributes to the formation of a new component of experience, but not in the sense of accelerating the formation of new behavior, but in the aspect of increasing the number of active neurons that change the expression of their genes.

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