Cats can mentally map their owner’s location from voice alone

2 years ago 263

In tests with hidden loudspeakers, cats amusement signs of being amazed erstwhile their owner’s dependable seemed to rapidly "teleport" from 1 broadside of a country to another

Life 10 November 2021

By Chen Ly

Domestic cats tin mentally representation their owner’s determination simply from the dependable of their voice.

Previous studies of cats (Felis catus) person revealed they are capable to way objects that determination retired of show – showcasing a level of what is known arsenic “object permanence”, the designation that an entity continues to beryllium adjacent if it tin nary longer beryllium seen. But fewer studies person tested however cats usage their different senses to way objects and individuals.

Saho Takagi astatine Kyoto University successful Japan and her colleagues enactment cats’ proceeding to the trial by investigating however they responded to their owner’s voice.

To bash so, they studied 50 home cats – 27 of which unrecorded astatine “cat cafes” wherever radical tin wage to ticker and play with cats, portion the remaining 23 were location cats.

The squad placed each feline unsocial successful a trial country with 2 doors and a window. They placed a talker extracurricular the country adjacent 1 doorway and a 2nd talker extracurricular adjacent the 2nd doorway oregon the window. The 2 speakers were astatine slightest 4 metres apart. To observe the cats, the squad acceptable up 5 video cameras successful the room.

During each test, the researchers utilized the speakers to play recordings of the cat’s proprietor – whether a cafe proprietor oregon a subordinate of the household – oregon a alien calling the cat’s name. The dependable was played twice, 2.5 seconds apart, and could travel from either the aforesaid talker some times oregon erstwhile from each speaker.

Eight radical past evaluated each cat’s effect by cautiously analysing the video footage.

The results suggest that cats amusement small astonishment – indicated by moving their ears oregon changing caput absorption – erstwhile their owner’s dependable was played doubly from the aforesaid speaker, oregon erstwhile the stranger’s dependable was played either doubly from the aforesaid talker oregon erstwhile from each speaker.

But if the acquainted dependable of the cat’s proprietor was played from archetypal 1 and past the 2nd talker 4 metres distant conscionable a fewer seconds later, the cats did amusement signs of surprise.

The authors suggest that cats tin mentally way their owner’s determination utilizing their voice, and frankincense grounds astonishment erstwhile their owners abruptly look to “teleport” to a caller place. The results bespeak a antecedently chartless socio-spatial consciousness successful cats.

“Cats whitethorn person a caput that is much profound than we think,” says Takagi.

Angelo Quaranta astatine the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy, says: “The knowing of cats’ socio-cognitive abilities to comprehend their emotions is important for improving the prime of human-cat and cat-cat relationships, arsenic good arsenic feline payment successful the home environment.”

Journal reference: PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257611