Use of a habituation-dishabituation test to determine canine olfactory sensitivity

Title
Use of a habituation-dishabituation test to determine canine olfactory sensitivity
Publication Date
2022-09
Author(s)
Moser, Ariella Y
Brown, Wendy Y
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5309-3381
Email: wbrown@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:wbrown
Bizo, Lewis A
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1002/jeab.788
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/54555
Abstract

The habituation-dishabituation (H-D) paradigm is an established measure of sensory perception in animals. However, it has rarely been applied to canine olfaction. It proposes that animals will lose interest in, or habituate to, a stimulus after successive exposures but will regain interest in, or dishabituate to, a novel stimulus if they can perceive it. This study assessed an H-D test's practicability to determine dogs' olfactory detection thresholds (ODTs) for a neutral odorant. A random selection of mixed-breed pet dogs (n = 26) participated in two H-D tests in a repeated-measures crossover design. They were first habituated to a carrier odor and then presented with either ascending concentrations of n-amyl acetate in the known ODT range (experimental condition) or repeated carrier odor presentations (control condition). No single odor concentration elicited dishabituation in the majority of the dogs. However, individual dogs dishabituated at differing experimental concentrations significantly more often than in the control condition (p = .012). These findings provide some tentative support for using this method in studying canine olfaction. However, further assessment and refinement are needed before it can be a viable alternative to traditional ODT measurement.

Link
Citation
Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 118(2), p. 316-326
ISSN
1938-3711
0022-5002
Pubmed ID
36121596
Start page
316
End page
326
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Files:

NameSizeformatDescriptionLink
openpublished/UseMoserBrownBizo2022JournalArticle.pdf 3685.382 KB application/pdf Published version View document