Humans and their working dogs: Comparing the human-dog socially distributed cognitive system with humans using non-biological tools and human interaction with draft animals

Distributed cognition criteria: Defined, operationalized, and applied to human-dog systems. Mary Jean Amon, Luis H. Favela. Behavioural Processes, Volume 162, May 2019, Pages 167-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2019.03.001

Highlights
•    Distributed cognitive systems exhibit three criteria: interaction-dominant dynamics, agency, and shared task-orientation.
•    The three criteria allow for socially distributed cognitive systems to be distinguished from other group tasks.
•    Some interactions between domesticated dogs and humans can be properly characterized as distributed cognition.
•    Human-dog distributed cognitive systems are contrasted with extended cognitive systems (human-tool use) and obedience tasks.
•    These criteria and examples demonstrate the expansive scope of distributed cognition theory beyond verbal interactions.

Abstract: Distributed cognition generally refers to situations in which task requirements are shared among multiple agents or, potentially, off-loaded onto the environment. With few exceptions, socially distributed cognition has largely been discussed in terms of intraspecific interactions. This conception fails to capture some forms of group-level cognition among human and non-human animals that are not readily measured or explained in mentalistic or verbal terms. In response to these limitations, we argue for a more stringent set of empirically-verifiable criteria for assessing whether a system is an instance of distributed cognition: interaction-dominant dynamics, agency, and shared task orientation. We apply this framework to humans and working dogs, and contrast the human-dog socially distributed cognitive system with humans using non-biological tools and human interaction with draft animals. The human-dog system illustrates three operationalizable factors for classifying phenomena as socially distributed cognition and extends the framework to interspecies distributed cognition.

Keywords: Agency Distributed cognition Dogs Extended cognition Interaction dominance Working animal