| Event type: | Meeting |
| Date: | 24th February 2026 |
| Time: | 14:00 - 15:00 |
| Group: | Science and Technology - OPEN |
| Venue: | Petersfield Community Centre |
| Organiser: |
Talk by Dr Juliane Kaminski
In her talk, Juliane will speak about the work that they do at the Dog Cognition Centre, Portsmouth, where they study how dogs understand the world they live in. Domestic dogs have been living with humans for about 15,000–30,000 years. One hypothesis is that through selection during domestication, dogs may have evolved specialised cognitive skills as an adaptation to their unique habitat, the human environment. Research in the past two decades has shown, for example, that dogs, as a result of selection pressures during domestication, have evolved an understanding of human forms of communication not to be found in other species (including chimpanzees and wolves).
The research is strictly observational. There is no invasive research of any kind. They give the dogs various fun games to solve and, by observing their decisions and strategies, learn about their behaviour and cognitive processes. Dogs are always rewarded with food or play. The Centre invites family dogs of all breeds, genders and ages to take part in our fun activities and fun games.
Juliane is an Associate Professor of Comparative Psychology in the School of Psychology, Sports and Health Sciences at the University of Portsmouth. She is the director of the Centre for Comparative and Evolutionary Psychology (CCEP) and the director of the Dog Cognition Centre. Previously, she was group leader of the research group ‘Evolutionary Roots of Human Social Interaction’ at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, where she also obtained her PhD in 2005 (together with Michael Tomasello and Josep Call). She also led the Dog Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for over 10 years.
Juliane's research interests include social cognition, communication and co-operation in human infants, primates and dogs. Most famously, she was the first to show that a dog named Rico learns labels for objects in a similar way to children. She am recognised as a leading expert on canine cognition and have been featured in BBC, National Geographic, Discovery News and the NOVA documentary ‘Dogs Decoded’, which aired on American television, among others.
Last Updated on 10th May 2026