News

The Long Journey to Complex Thought

...The next best alternative is to see how we stack up against contemporary animals, most importantly, the great apes. Evan MacLean, an associate professor of anthropology and psychology at the University of Arizona, has argued that comparative studies can reveal a lot about our cognitive origins. In a 2016 paper, he suggests that the crucial difference between us and our closest living relatives is how we think about and engage with fellow members of... continue reading

See Us on Netflix!

Dr. Emily Bray was interviewed in the Netflix original documentary Inside the Mind of a Dog, where she discussed her research on maternal styles in dogs, and showcased some of the cognition tasks performed with dogs at the service dog organization Canine Companions. Watch it here!

Can Very Young Puppies Comprehend Human Gestures?

Scientific American's 60-Second Science Podcast interviews Dr. Emily Bray about her work with puppies at Canine Companions for Independence. Puppies Understand You... continue reading

The Science of Dogs

“Most of the questions that we have in science are not questions about what happens to animals living in sterile environments,” said Evan MacLean, the director of the Arizona Canine Cognition Center at the University of Arizona. “They’re questions about real organisms in the real world shared with humans. And dogs are a really, really good proxy for that in ways that other animals aren’t.” The New York Times

How Science Went to the Dogs (and Cats)

“People who do developmental psychology don’t have labs full of 12-month-olds,” said Evan MacLean, the director of the Arizona Canine Cognition Center at the University of Arizona. “They have phone numbers of parents. We have the phone numbers of dog parents.” The New York Times