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Dogs may be self-aware

Self-awareness - Level 4

Scientists in Hungary conducted a study to find out if dogs have self-awareness and a sense of body awareness. A researcher explained: "Self-awareness is a rather poorly investigated area of dog cognition." He added: "Body awareness is a mental capacity to organize someone's action by taking in consideration their own body exists." He put dogs in situations that would make them aware of their body position.

The scientists conducted tests on 54 dogs. A toy was attached to a mat and each dog had to give the toy to its owner. The dog would not be able to take the toy to its owner unless it got off the mat. Many of the dogs worked this out. The researchers said this showed a sense of body awareness. They wrote that body awareness is, "the ability to hold information about one's own body in mind, as an explicit object, in relation to other objects in the world".

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Self-awareness - Level 5

What do animals think about? Scientists in Hungary explored this question by investigating if dogs have self-awareness. Researchers tried to find out whether canines have a sense of body awareness. A researcher explained: "Self-awareness is a rather poorly investigated area of dog cognition." He added: "Body awareness is a mental capacity to organize someone's action by taking in consideration their own body exists." His test put dogs in situations that would make them aware of their body position. His research is published in the journal "Scientific Reports".

The scientists conducted tests on 54 dogs. A toy was attached to a mat and each dog had to give the toy to its owner. The dog had to understand it would not be able to take the toy to its owner unless it got off the mat first. Many of the dogs understood this and completed the task. The researchers said this showed a sense of body awareness. They wrote that body awareness is, "the ability to hold information about one's own body in mind, as an explicit object, in relation to other objects in the world". They called it a fundamental building block of "self-representation".

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Self-awareness - Level 6

Have you ever wondered what animals think about? A team of scientists explored this question by investigating whether dogs have self-awareness. Researchers from a university in Hungary set out to determine whether canines have a sense of self and of body awareness. Researcher Peter Pongracz explained why his team conducted the study. He said: "Self-awareness is a rather poorly investigated area of dog cognition." He added: "Body awareness is a mental capacity to organize someone's action by taking in consideration their own body exists." His test put dogs in situations that would make them aware of their body position. The study is published in the journal "Scientific Reports".

The scientists conducted tests on 54 dogs. The dogs had to respond to commands from their owners. Researchers attached a toy to a mat and asked the dog to give the toy to its owner. The dog had to understand it would be unable to take the toy to its owner unless it got off the mat first. Many of the dogs understood the issue and got off the mat to complete the task. The researchers said this showed a sense of body awareness. They wrote that body awareness is, "the ability to hold information about one's own body in mind, as an explicit object, in relation to other objects in the world". They said this is "one of the fundamental building blocks of self-representation" and that the dogs in the tests exhibited this.

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