By Christa Lesté-Lasserre
A dog is in a study.
The man is named royobert Bayer.
When 3D animated balls on a computer screen defy certain laws of physics, dogs act in a way that suggests they feel like their eyes are deceiving them.
If virtual balls start rolling on their own rather than being set in motion by a collision with another ball, pet dogs stare for longer and their pupils widen. The animals are surprised that the balls didn't move as they had expected, says Vlter.
Vlter says this is the beginning of learning. Something happens that doesn't fit with your expectations about the environment and regularities in your environment that are connected to physics. Now you pay attention. You try to see what is happening.
He says that human infants and chimp's stare longer during these kinds of "violation of expectation" tests.
