Do dogs understand the laws of physics?

Dogs seem to have a basic understanding of how things behave.

Already in the first year of our lives people learn about causal links and the behavior of things. about how one affects the other. For example, how to move the body with your hand. We keep improving this skill for the rest of our lives and it’s a skill that animals also use. But how well do animals understand these connections?

At the University of Vienna they conducted an eye-tracking study with dogs to find out more about it. Five Rolling Balls, two Labradors, one Scottish Shepherd, Australian Shepherd, and five Rolling Ball movie mixes that comply with or don’t comply with the laws of physics have been shown.

In one of the videos, a ball rolled into another, causing the last ball to move as well. In another video, one ball didn’t roll far enough to hit the other, but the second ball rolled anyway. The researchers saw that in the video in which the second ball’s motion was incorrect, the dogs watched longer and the pupils were larger. According to the researchers, it shows that dogs have a basic understanding of how things behave.

Read more: Dogs’ viewing times and pupil dilation response reveal predictions about contact causality.