The hierarchical structure of canine cognition: two domains and a general cognitive factor

Abstract

The complex human environment results in a hard-to-bridge gap between human and animal studies on general cognitive abilities (g; colloquially often referred to as "intelligence"). Pet dogs are adapted to our environment, but a convincing demonstration of g is missing. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on seven tasks revealed a hierarchical structure with two cognitive domains (problem solving, learning) and an overarching canine g. Age did not affect the structure. Canine g was negatively linked to age, height, and the owners emotional attitude but positively to training level, activity/excitability trait, experienced trauma and normal body condition. The longitudinal analyses over three years differentiated three main trajectory clusters: declining, stable, improving. The diversity of ageing phenotypes supports dogs translational value in g factor and ageing research. One-Sentence SummaryThe canine g factor is linked to age, height, training level, personality, body condition, and owners attitude.