One of the things that makes Dognition so dynamic and exciting is our use of Citizen Science. What’s Citizen Science? It’s research that can be conducted by anyone who has the time and interest, not just scientists with Ph.Ds and lab coats.
Recently, citizen scientists have discovered new planets and helped researchers understand why babies laugh. There’s even an app for citizen scientists to report discoveries they make in their own backyards. The more help we get from dog-loving people like you, the more we can learn about all dogs, much more quickly and broadly than if we conducted the research ourselves.
How does Dognition use Citizen Science?
When you complete the Dognition Assessment Toolkit, you’ll receive a personalized report that identifies your dog’s unique cognitive style. But that’s just the beginning. Dognition will aggregate and analyze the data to look for patterns related to many different aspects of canine cognition. Traditionally, a small team of canine researchers may only be able to test a few hundred dogs over the course of a decade. Thanks to Dognition, canine researchers will soon be studying the results of hundreds, maybe thousands, of dogs a month who play the games in our Dognition Assessment Toolkit. With of all that data, we may be able to make new, exciting discoveries, faster than ever!
What if I mess up?
We’ve designed the games in the Dognition experience so that any owner can take part without fully knowing the science behind it. And believe it or not, there really are no right and wrong answers!
We’re not looking for specific behaviors from dogs, so we ask you to just follow the instructions and report what you see. Giving us inaccurate data will make your own report inaccurate, but because so many dogs will be participating, the overall data set won’t be significantly affected. So don’t worry and don’t overthink it — just play the games and have fun spending time with your dog!
Who else is doing this?
If you’re ready to learn more about the world of Citizen Science, here are some of our favorite projects:
- Snapshot Serengeti: Hundreds of cameras are capturing millions of photos in the Serengeti National Park. Can you identify the animals you see?
- Eyewire: Help scientists at MIT’s Seung Lab understand how the brain is wired by tracing a 3D structure of neurons in the retina.
- Project: Play with Your Dog: The Horowitz Dog Cognition Lab in New York is conducting research on play between humans and dogs. All you need to do to participate is record and upload a video of yourself playing with your dog.
(photo via petsadviser.com)
When can the rest of us join the fun!? This is too cool for school…
@Tracie Hotchner Hi Tracie! So glad you’re into it. We’re still in the middle of beta testing – working out the kinks and making sure that Dognition is indeed Too Cool for School when it launches. If you’ve registered to be a beta tester, you still may be called. Otherwise, we encourage you to sign up at Dognition.com to be the first to know when we launch… which will be soon!
@DuttonBooks Thanks for the RT!
looked at the .pdf file and tried a few tests with Sunglasses. the food tests were sort of a bust, she is so scent oriented… give her a treat, she’ll sniff it and walk away with a ‘no thank you, but thanks for the smell’. she was bored with the treat test game and snorted before finishing. we are together 24/7 because she is my personal 8lb 4oz, 3 year old service dog. she gets ‘inside her head’ with smells and blocks everything else out when she has her ‘play leash’ on. visually, she is ahead of me before I signal, scary sometimes. waiting for the trainer section to really open up, we train scent alert dogs, come on guys!
If Dognition were serious and ethical about citizen science, they wouldn’t put the tests behind a paywall. Profiteering at the expense of science, BOO!
@Marc Hi Marc! While the citizen science component is indeed a big part of Dognition, the main product we are selling is for individuals who want to see the world through their dogs’ eyes.This product is based on years of research and cutting-edge technology and we’re excited to be able to offer it to dog owners.