Dogs and cats are sensitive to human social signals such as pointing, gazing and facial expressions. Previous studies have demonstrated that dogs show over-reliance on human actions in the presence of conflicting physical cues. However, it is still unclear whether this tendency is specific to dogs, or shared with other domesticated animals. Here, we compared the behavior of dogs and cats in a two-choice task after they saw a person taking and pretending to eat food from a baited container. After one experimenter showed the dogs (Experiment 1) or cats (Experiment 2) two opaque containers, each containing a piece of the food, another (the demonstrator) removed food from one container and ate it (Eating condition), or simply picked up the food and returned it to the container (Showing condition). We recorded which container the subjects approached first after the demonstration. Both dogs and cats were less likely to choose the container associated with the human in the Eating than the Showing condition, although choice for this container was above chance in both conditions. In Experiment 3, we confirmed that dogs and cats naturally chose a baited over an empty container. These results suggest that both species’ reasoning abilities might be influenced by a bias for prioritizing specific human actions. Although dogs and cats have different domestication histories, their social awareness of humans appears similar, possibly because they both share their environment with humans.

狗和猫对人类的社交信号很敏感，例如指向、注视和面部表情。先前的研究表明，在存在相互冲突的身体暗示的情况下，狗会过度依赖人类的行为。然而，目前尚不清楚这种趋势是狗特有的，还是与其他家养动物共有的。在这里，我们比较了狗和猫在看到一个人从一个带诱饵的容器中取食并假装吃食物后的两项选择任务中的行为。在一位实验者向狗（实验 1）或猫（实验 2）展示两个不透明的容器后，每个容器都装有一块食物，另一位（演示者）从一个容器中取出食物并吃掉它（进食条件），或者干脆拿起食物并将其返回容器（显示状态）。我们记录了受试者在演示后首先接近的容器。与展示条件相比，狗和猫都不太可能在进食条件下选择与人类相关的容器，尽管在两种条件下选择这个容器都高于机会。在实验 3 中，我们确认狗和猫会自然而然地选择诱饵而不是空容器。这些结果表明，这两个物种的推理能力可能会受到优先考虑特定人类行为的偏见的影响。虽然狗和猫有不同的驯化历史，但它们对人类的社会意识似乎相似，这可能是因为它们都与人类共享环境。尽管在这两种情况下选择这个容器都是偶然的。在实验 3 中，我们确认狗和猫会自然而然地选择诱饵而不是空容器。这些结果表明，这两个物种的推理能力可能会受到优先考虑特定人类行为的偏见的影响。虽然狗和猫有不同的驯化历史，但它们对人类的社会意识似乎相似，这可能是因为它们都与人类共享环境。尽管在这两种情况下选择这个容器都是偶然的。在实验 3 中，我们确认狗和猫会自然而然地选择诱饵而不是空容器。这些结果表明，这两个物种的推理能力可能会受到优先考虑特定人类行为的偏见的影响。虽然狗和猫有不同的驯化历史，但它们对人类的社会意识似乎相似，这可能是因为它们都与人类共享环境。