Dogs provide new insights into aging and cognition

The quest to understand intelligence and unravel the workings of the mind has always been considered the holy grail of natural sciences. While we're still uncovering many mysteries, animals can provide valuable insights into the origins and organisation of both mind and intellect. In their latest, study researchers at the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) discovered that dogs may possess a key component of intelligence known as the 'g factor'. Importantly, this factor shares many characteristics with its human counterpart, including its ageing patterns. These findings could bring us closer to understanding how dog (and human) cognition is organised, and how cognitive decline progresses with age.