o:1753 Recognition of rotated objects and cognitive offloading in dogs en Recognition of rotated images can challenge visual systems. Humans often diminish the load of cognitive tasks employing bodily actions (cognitive offloading). To investigate these phenomena from a comparative perspective, we trained eight dogs (Canis familiaris) to discriminate between bidimensional shapes. We then tested the dogs with rotated versions of the same shapes, while measuring their accuracy and head tilts. Although generalization to rotated stimuli challenged dogs (overall accuracy: 55%), three dogs performed differently from chance level with rotated stimuli. The amplitude of stimulus rotation did not influence dogs' performance. Interestingly, dogs tilted their head following the direction and amplitude of rotated stimuli. These small head movements did not influence their performance. Hence, we show that dogs might be capable of recognizing rotated 2D objects, but they do not use a cognitive offloading strategy in this task. This work paves the way to further investigation of cognitive offloading in non-human species. Mental Rotation; Pattern-Recognition; Invariance; Stimuli; Features; Pigeons; Cortex; Image; Hands; Sex 1552099 10.1016/j.isci.2022.103820 2023-06-22T09:08:40.373Z 44 yes 46 Lucrezia Lonardo University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna / Medical University Vienna / University of Vienna 0000-0002-7006-3766 Elisabetta Versace Queen Mary University of London person Ludwig Huber University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna / Medical University Vienna / University of Vienna person 0000-0002-0217-136X application/pdf 2758667 https://phaidra.vetmeduni.ac.at/o:1753 no yes 16 70 1552253 iScience 22 25 2 Cell Press 2022