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MINI REVIEW article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Perception Science
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1522489
This article is part of the Research Topic Processing of Face and Other Animacy Cues in the Brain View all 10 articles

Perception of animate motion in dogs

Provisionally accepted
Judit Abdai Judit Abdai *
  • University of Trento, Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Various motion cues can lead to the perception of animacy, including (1) simple motion characteristics such as starting to move from rest, (2) motion patterns of interactions like chasing, or (3) the motion of point-lights representing the joints of a moving biological agent. Due to the relevance of dogs in comparative research and considering the large variability within the species, studying animacy perception in dogs can provide unique information about how selection for specific traits and individual-level (social) differences may shape social perception. Despite these advantages, only a few studies have investigated the phenomenon in dogs. In this mini-review, we discuss the current findings about how specific motion dynamics associated with animacy drive dogs' visual attention.

    Keywords: dog, animacy perception, Biological motion, agency, Animal-robot interaction

    Received: 04 Nov 2024; Accepted: 10 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Abdai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Judit Abdai, University of Trento, Trento, 38122, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.