A study published in Applied Animal Behaviour Science investigates the socio-cognitive mechanisms of domestic dogs, specifically focusing on their capacity for visual perspective-taking and metacognition. The research explores whether dogs can attribute visual access to humans and whether they can reflect on their own knowledge states.⁠ ⁠ Key Findings:⁠ - Visual Perspective-Taking: To assess whether dogs understand what a human can and cannot see, researchers established a paradigm where dogs were commanded to leave a piece of food. The experimenters then manipulated their own visual access to the dog and the food using various barriers.⁠ ⁠ The results demonstrated that dogs were significantly more likely to approach and consume the forbidden food when an opaque barrier occluded the human's line of sight.⁠ ⁠ Furthermore, the dogs successfully differentiated between solid barriers and barriers with windows, indicating that their behavior was not merely a response to the physical presenc...