In people’s impression, cats usually behave very aloofly, as if they live at a higher level than humans, and are not interested in ordinary people like me at all.
In recent years, though, scientists have shown that cats actually have a deep bond with humans, communicating with them, even observing their movements out of sight, knowing the names of humans who live in the same household, and recognizing themselves and similar names. Do you think this is the ability that only dogs can have? In fact, cats can do it too.
In a new study, scientists found out. This can’t help but make people feel strange, it turns out that these seemingly indifferent and idle cats are actually listening to us secretly while pretending to be cold.
In the experiments, the researchers studied cats living in multi-cat dwellings, either domestic cats living in multi-cat households or cats living in cat cafes. For the test, the researchers showed a cat an image of a cat from the same household (called a “model cat”). When the image was displayed, the recording with the owner’s voice spoke the model cat’s name aloud (called the “consistent condition”), or said a different name (called the “inconsistent condition”).
The results showed that domestic cats spent more time staring at computer screens in inconsistent conditions, possibly because they were confused or curious about the mismatch between the model cat’s image and name. However, the cats in the cat cafe showed no delays during the experiment, which may be because they lived under the same roof as many other cats or were less familiar with the model cat of choice.
”Only domestic cats responded to a specific cat when they heard the cat’s name, suggesting that in their cognition, the cat’s name matched a specific individual. When hearing the name, subjects expected corresponding faces.” This is how the researchers describe in their paper. In another experiment, the researchers performed a similar test, but using humans instead of model cats as stimuli. This time, when the image and name didn’t match, the cat’s attention to the screen was extended again.
Although the researchers claim that their study provides “the first evidence that domestic cats link human discourse to their social referents through everyday experience,” they admit that this is still a fairly small study (involving only a few dozen animals). cats), and therefore require additional experimental verification, humans still know little about the specific mechanisms behind cat learning.
However, for the conscientious “shit shovel officer”, wouldn’t it be comforting to know that his cat has been secretly observing and caring about himself?
