Have you ever wondered what animals think ? A team of scientists explored this question investigating whether dogs have self-awareness. Researchers a university Hungary set to determine whether canines have a sense 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 dog cognition." He added: "Body awareness is a mental capacity to organize someone's action taking in consideration their own body exists." His test put dogs situations that would make them aware their body position. The study is published the journal "Scientific Reports".
The scientists conducted tests 54 dogs. The dogs had to respond to commands 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 the mat first. Many the dogs understood the issue and got the mat to complete the task. The researchers said this showed a sense body awareness. They wrote that body awareness is, "the ability to hold information one's own body in mind, as an explicit object, in relation to other objects the world". They said this is "one the fundamental building blocks of self-representation" and that the dogs in the tests exhibited this.
