Alexandra Horowitz is a Senior Research Fellow and Adjunct Associate Professor within the English and Psychology Departments at Barnard College. [1] [2] Horowitz is the director of the Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard. [3] [4] She is the author of the New York Times bestseller, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know . [5]
Horowitz was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [6] Her father was a practicing attorney and her mother was a trained lawyer. [6] In her early childhood, Horowitz and her family moved to Golden, Colorado, where she completed her primary and secondary education. [6] She received her B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania. [7] Later, Horowitz completed her post-baccalaureate training at Columbia University, where she pursued her interest in animal cognition. [8] Horowitz had a sensitivity toward animals from an early age, but her academic curiosity flourished during her time at Columbia. [4] [8]
During her post-baccalaureate training, observed Herb Terrace, an Emeritus Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, and Diana Reiss, who both study animal cognition. [8] Horowitz briefly worked in Terrace’s laboratory studying memories in macaque monkeys, which had an influence on her current scientific study. [8] Horowitz went on to earn her M.S. and Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from the University of California at San Diego. [7] While studying animal cognition, she decided to study play behavior in dogs after observing her dog, Pumpernickel. She worked with Marc Bekoff from the University of Colorado Boulder and took inspiration from his work with philosopher Colin Allen in her decision to study communication through dog play. [8]
Prior to her graduate education, Horowitz worked as a lexicographer for Merriam-Webster. [6] She contributed as a definer for Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, which was published in 1991. [6] Horowitz then began work as a fact-checker at The New Yorker in New York City. She credits her work fact-checking books by the neuroscientist and author Oliver Sacks for influencing her decision to study cognitive science. [6]
Horowitz is an instructor of dog cognition, nonfiction writing, and verbal storytelling. In addition to being a professor, Horowitz is also the PI of the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard, with a focus on analyzing the behavior and psychology of owned dogs. [9] [10] Her research has provided insight into dogs’ sense of self, their sense of space, and the way they use their olfactory system to make sense of the world around them. [4] Her research on the perceived emotion of guilt commonly displayed by dogs has shown that this look is not the dog feeling guilty, but rather attempting to act in a submissive manner to avoid punishment. [2] [11] Horowitz's work guides dog owners on how to improve their relationships with their dogs, advising owners to tailor certain kinds of play to the dog and allow dogs to explore their olfactory worlds. [8]
Outside of her work in the lecture hall and the lab, Horowitz has published many works on dog cognition. Her most recent work, The Year of the Puppy, follows a dog throughout the first year of life, a year which Horowitz describes as an especially pivotal time in development. [7] Her writing and research have received high acclaim, with book reviewers calling it precise, engaging, entertaining, and uplifting. [12] [13] She aims to create books that are accessible to a younger audience to foster a sense of curiosity and empathy toward non-human animals in the younger generation. [8] She also created the podcast, Off-Leash, with episodes that highlighted conversations about dog behavior and cognition shared between Horowitz and a notable guest as they took their dogs for a walk. [14]
Horowitz’ debut book, Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know , was a #1 New York Times Bestseller in 2009, and it remained on the list for 64 weeks. [15] In 2014, she received a William James Book Award of recognition for On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes. [16] Horowitz’ titles geared toward children have won various awards, including the 2017 NSTA award for Outstanding Science Trade Book for Students K-12 and the 2020 Eureka! Nonfiction Children’s Book Gold Award. [17] [18]
Comparative psychology is the scientific study of the behavior and mental processes of non-human animals, especially as these relate to the phylogenetic history, adaptive significance, and development of behavior. The phrase comparative psychology may be employed in a narrow and a broad meaning. In its narrow meaning, it refers to the study of the similarities and differences in the psychology and behavior of different species. In a broader meaning, comparative psychology includes comparisons between different biological and socio-cultural groups, such as species, sexes, developmental stages, ages, and ethnicities. Research in this area addresses many different issues, uses many different methods and explores the behavior of many different species from insects to primates.
Animal cognition encompasses the mental capacities of non-human animals including insect cognition. The study of animal conditioning and learning used in this field was developed from comparative psychology. It has also been strongly influenced by research in ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology; the alternative name cognitive ethology is sometimes used. Many behaviors associated with the term animal intelligence are also subsumed within animal cognition.
Dog intelligence or dog cognition is the process in dogs of acquiring information and conceptual skills, and storing them in memory, retrieving, combining and comparing them, and using them in new situations.
The mirror test—sometimes called the mark test, mirror self-recognition (MSR) test, red spot technique, or rouge test—is a behavioral technique developed in 1970 by American psychologist Gordon Gallup Jr. as an attempt to determine whether an animal possesses the ability of visual self-recognition. The MSR test is the traditional method for attempting to measure physiological and cognitive self-awareness. However, agreement has been reached that animals can be self-aware in ways not measured by the mirror test, such as distinguishing between their own and others' songs and scents, and being aware of their own bodies, while humans have abnormally good vision, and thus intelligence that is highly visual.
In the semiotic theories of Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas Sebeok, umwelt is the "biological foundations that lie at the very center of the study of both communication and signification in the human [and non-human] animal". The term is usually translated as "self-centered world". Uexküll theorised that organisms can have different umwelten, even though they share the same environment. The term umwelt, together with companion terms Umgebung and Innenwelt, have special relevance for cognitive philosophers, roboticists and cyberneticians because they offer a potential solution to the conundrum of the infinite regress of the Cartesian Theater.
Dog communication is the transfer of information between dogs, as well as between dogs and humans. Behaviors associated with dog communication are categorized into visual and vocal. Visual communication includes mouth shape and head position, licking and sniffing, ear and tail positioning, eye gaze, facial expression, and body posture. Dog vocalizations, or auditory communication, can include barks, growls, howls, whines and whimpers, screams, pants and sighs. Dogs also communicate via gustatory communication, utilizing scent and pheromones.
Tracking refers to a dog's ability to detect, recognize and follow a specific scent. Possessing heightened olfactory abilities, dogs, especially scent hounds, are able to detect, track and locate the source of certain odours. A deeper understanding of the physiological mechanisms and the phases involved in canine scent tracking has allowed humans to utilize this animal behaviour in a variety of professions. Through domestication and the human application of dog behaviour, different methods and influential factors on tracking ability have been discovered. While tracking was once considered a predatory technique of dogs in the wild, it has now become widely used by humans.
The dog is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from extinct gray wolves, and the gray wolf is the dog's closest living relative. The dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans. Experts estimate that hunter-gatherers domesticated dogs more than 15,000 years ago, which was before the development of agriculture. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals and gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.
Stanley Coren is a psychology professor, neuropsychological researcher and writer on the intelligence, mental abilities and history of dogs. He works in research and instructs in psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, British Columbia. He writes for Psychology Today in the feature series Canine Corner.
Anecdotal cognitivism is a method of research using anecdotal, and anthropomorphic evidence through the observation of animal behaviour.
Dog behavior is the internally coordinated responses of individuals or groups of domestic dogs to internal and external stimuli. It has been shaped by millennia of contact with humans and their lifestyles. As a result of this physical and social evolution, dogs have acquired the ability to understand and communicate with humans. Behavioral scientists have uncovered a wide range of social-cognitive abilities in domestic dogs.
Rachel Sarah Herz is a Canadian and American psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist, recognized for her research on the psychology of smell.
Comparative cognition is the comparative study of the mechanisms and origins of cognition in various species, and is sometimes seen as more general than, or similar to, comparative psychology. From a biological point of view, work is being done on the brains of fruit flies that should yield techniques precise enough to allow an understanding of the workings of the human brain on a scale appreciative of individual groups of neurons rather than the more regional scale previously used. Similarly, gene activity in the human brain is better understood through examination of the brains of mice by the Seattle-based Allen Institute for Brain Science, yielding the freely available Allen Brain Atlas. This type of study is related to comparative cognition, but better classified as one of comparative genomics. Increasing emphasis in psychology and ethology on the biological aspects of perception and behavior is bridging the gap between genomics and behavioral analysis.
The sense of smell, or olfaction, is the special sense through which smells are perceived. The sense of smell has many functions, including detecting desirable foods, hazards, and pheromones, and plays a role in taste.
Human–canine bonding is the relationship between dogs and humans. This relationship can be traced back to at least 15,000 years ago, to the Bonn-Oberkassel dog, who was found buried alongside two humans. For centuries, dogs have been considered man's best friend. This is most evident in western countries, such as the United States, where over 48% of households have a pet dog.
Inside of a Dog: What Dogs See, Smell, and Know is a book written by cognitive scientist, Alexandra Horowitz. Horowitz walks the reader through the cognitive process of dogs in relation to how they perceive their day-to-day activities. The author explains the animal's cognitive abilities, and allows the reader insight into what it might be like to be a dog. The book also contains a brief interview with the author.
Theory of mind in animals is an extension to non-human animals of the philosophical and psychological concept of theory of mind (ToM), sometimes known as mentalisation or mind-reading. It involves an inquiry into whether non-human animals have the ability to attribute mental states to themselves and others, including recognition that others have mental states that are different from their own. To investigate this issue experimentally, researchers place non-human animals in situations where their resulting behavior can be interpreted as supporting ToM or not.
The dog sense of smell is the most powerful sense of this species, the olfactory system of canines being much more complex and developed than that of humans. Dogs have roughly forty times more smell-sensitive receptors than humans, ranging from about 125 million to nearly 300 million in some dog breeds, such as bloodhounds. These receptors are spread over an area about the size of a pocket handkerchief. Dogs' sense of smell also includes the use of the vomeronasal organ, which is used primarily for social interactions.
Brian Hare is a professor of evolutionary anthropology at Duke University. He researches the evolution of cognition by studying both humans, our close relatives the primates, and species whose cognition converged with our own. He founded and co-directs the Duke Canine Cognition Center.
Olfactic communication is a channel of nonverbal communication referring to the various ways people and animals communicate and engage in social interaction through their sense of smell. Our human olfactory sense is one of the most phylogenetically primitive and emotionally intimate of the five senses; the sensation of smell is thought to be the most matured and developed human sense.
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