Pets Assisting With Science (PAWS) Lab (University of St Andrews)
Who Can Participate |
3- or 4-month-old puppy |
What Happens |
After completing the consent form, you will be redirected to our lab's website where you will find the instructions on how to complete the study on your own without a researcher present. For the procedure, you will be asked to play with your puppy for a minute, then asked to ignore your puppy for a minute, and then repeat this, with a play period at the end. Then, you will be asked to share your video by using a special upload link or a cloud service of your choice. You will be asked to complete the procedure once a month until your puppy reaches 12 months of age. |
What We're Studying |
We are investigating whether puppies re-engage their owner with communicative behaviors when their owner stops participating in a cooperative activity, such as playing with them. There is limited information on what puppies understand about participation in joint activities, and this study hopes to help address this. |
Duration |
10 minutes per month |
Compensation |
After every time you submit your video, you will receive a $7 Amazon e-gift card via email from Amazon.com (or, an equivalent, £5 Amazon e-gift card from Amazon.co.uk) within a month. One e-gift card will be provided per puppy that participated in a month of the study. |
This study is conducted by Josep Call & Malinda Carpenter (contact: paws@st-andrews.ac.uk).