ReviewAnimal cognition2021
A review of the unsolvable task in dog communication and cognition: comparing different methodologies.
Review in Animal cognition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed.
- Striking global similarities in dog-human interactions.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Professional perspectives on recurrent characteristics of dogs with separation-related problems: a qualitative study in three nordic countries.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Companion pigs alternate orientation between humans and snout-inaccessible targets.Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Hierarchy-Dependent Behaviour of Dogs in the Strange Situation Test: High-Ranking Dogs Show Less Stress and Behave Less Friendly with a Stranger in the Presence of Their Owner.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Social learning in dogs from an ecologically valid perspective.Biologia futura · 2025Review
- Not the presence but the timing of acoustic signals influence dogs' behaviour toward an artificial agent.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Body Awareness Does Not Need a Pedigree: Mixed-Breed Dogs Rely More on Self-Representation Than Social Learning in a Spatial Task.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Evidence for the communicative function of human-directed gazing in 6- to 7-week-old dog puppies.Animal cognition · 2024Article
- Cooperative but Dependent-Functional Breed Selection in Dogs Influences Human-Directed Gazing in a Difficult Object-Manipulation Task.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- Dogs understand the role of a human partner in a cooperative task.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Street-wise dog testing: Feasibility and reliability of a behavioural test battery for free-ranging dogs in their natural habitat.PloS one · 2024Article
- Modulation of dog-owner relationship and dog social and cognitive behavior by owner temperament and dog breed group.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Influence of reward and location on dogs' behaviour toward an interactive artificial agent.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Disentangling help-seeking and giving up: differential human-directed gazing by dogs in a modified unsolvable task paradigm.Animal cognition · 2022Article
- Breed group differences in the unsolvable problem task: herding dogs prefer their owner, while solitary hunting dogs seek stranger proximity.Animal cognition · 2022Article
- Serum Oxytocin in Cows Is Positively Correlated with Caregiver Interactions in the Impossible Task Paradigm.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022Article
- Relationship between engagement with the impossible task, cognitive testing, and cognitive questionnaires in a population of aging dogs.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2022Article
- Effect of Sex and Reproductive Status on Inhibitory Control and Social Cognition in the Domestic Dog (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- A comparative test of inequity aversion in domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and dingoes (Canis dingo).PloS one · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Communication between dogs and humans is a topic of growing interest, and the "unsolvable task" is a common method used to measure human-directed communication. In this task, dogs learn how to solve a problem to obtain a reward. After a fixed number of trials, the reward becomes impossible to access, arguably leading to communicative attempts from the dog. Although useful to observe dogs' communicative behaviors in a fairly naturalistic situation, the methodology varies among studies regarding apparatus, number of trials, and other factors. The proxies used, for instance, gaze duration or frequency of gaze alternation, also vary, and there are discrepancies and a debate regarding what the task actually measures. Therefore, in this study, we reviewed the usage of the unsolvable task in canids of the genus Canis, searching Web of Science and Scopus for the terms "dog*", "Canis", "dingo*", "wolf" or "wolves" in the title and "unsolvable task" or "impossible task" in the topic. We included thirty-five studies in this review and discussed their different methodologies and proxies, such as different apparatuses, number of solvable trials, and different interpretations of "looking back", pointing out how they can affect results and hinder comparisons. Lastly, we used current data to propose strategies to homogenize the use of this important paradigm, with an ethogram of possible behaviors and their interpretation and a predefined set of methodological aspects for future research.
Indexed as
Identifiers
33754284What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.