Can cats understand other cats' names? Cats are smarter than you think!

There were a few times when I walked downstairs from work and stopped to take out my phone to watch the real-time surveillance of my home, and then shouted to the bedroom window on the fifth floor: "Beibei!"

Every time, Beibei would respond. He would immediately start meowing, squatting in one place but looking around and meowing, or running to the door and meowing non-stop, until I ran upstairs, washed my hands and started to touch him, and then he would calm down.

Let me see who's calling me｜Giphy

A study in 2019 confirmed what I and many other cat owners think - cats can understand their own names . Usually, cats hear their owners calling their names, but they pretend not to hear them. In fact, they just don't want to pay attention to people.

But cats' ability to sense names doesn't stop there. A study this year found that cats in multi-cat households can also recognize the names of their own cat companions .

Cats at home vs. cats at cat cafes

Atsuko Saito is a senior cat owner with a 15-year-old black cat, Sheriff. She is also a professor of psychology at Sophia University in Japan, where she studies the cognitive behavior of cats and the relationship between cats and humans. She participated in both studies.

This study was divided into two experiments. In Experiment 1, a total of 48 cats participated, of which 29 cats came from several different cat cafes and 19 came from multi-cat households - due to the experimental setting, each household needed to have at least three cats.

Only wealthy families like us can participate in the competition｜Pixabay

The cats participating in the experiment will first hear a recording of the owner calling the name of Cat A four times. Cat A is a cat that lives with the experimental cat or works in the same cat cafe. After listening to the recording, the cat will then see a photo. The cat in the photo is either Cat A, who was called in the recording just now, or Cat B, who was not called by name just now but also lives with the experimental cat.

The results of the experiment showed that if the cat face they saw was inconsistent with the cat name they heard, cats in cat cafes would not show confusion, but domestic cats would spend more time looking at the screen. The researchers believe that domestic cats showed an expectancy violation effect . That is, when a cat hears the name of companion A and then sees the face of companion B, its expectations may be dashed and it may feel a little confused .

Cat: Did you recognize the wrong cat? I think you are stupid｜Pixabay

The process of the second experiment was the same as that of the first experiment, but this time the names of other human family members were called out in the recording, and the pictures that appeared after the recording were also human faces. Perhaps because the person speaking in the recording was not a familiar shit shoveler, the cats did not show a significant violation of expectations. However, the study also found that the more family members there are and the longer the cat lives with the person, the more obvious the confusion the cat has about the inconsistency between the name and the face of the person .

All this means that your cat may be secretly observing your every move.

Influence + Observation

The cats in the experiment had not received any special training, so the experiment was not smooth sailing. During the face recognition phase, some cats did not look at the computer screen at all, and one cat ran away after listening to the recording and hid in a high place away from the experiment... The data from these situations had to be eliminated in the end.

Researchers believe that the ability to recognize a companion's name involves social learning, which is simply learning certain behaviors through observation and interaction in daily life . Compared with cats in cat cafes, domestic cats hear their owners call other cats' names more often, and can also observe the reactions of other cats in the house when they hear their names more frequently.

Did you copy and paste each other's moves? | Cloud

In addition to being influenced by what they see and hear, the scene of feeding multiple cats in a household also gives cats a stronger motivation to remember the names of other cats . For example, when they hear their owners calling their own names, they may get food; but when the owners call the names of other cats, it means that they can only watch the live eating show this time.

In Experiment 2, cats were not able to clearly recognize the names of other human members, probably because there is no competition between humans and cats . However, when there are more people and cats live together for a longer time, cats have more opportunities for social learning and are better at recognizing names.

The study also has some limitations. For example, the experiment did not analyze the time the cats lived together, nor did it control factors such as the cats' age and affection. These factors are difficult to control. Some cats in multi-cat households have difficulty living together and can only be kept in different rooms. It is difficult to calculate the time they have lived together.

After all, it may be difficult for a multi-cat household to avoid fighting｜Giphy

Although the researchers have given possible reasons and motivations, the mechanism of how domestic cats learn to recognize the names and appearances of other cats remains an unsolved mystery and requires further research.

Are cats becoming more and more "dog-like"?

Most of the current research on companion pet cognitive behavior is about dogs, while there is little research on cats. As humans’ “eternal friends”, dogs can easily get the names and nicknames given to them by their owners, and are also accustomed to hearing strangers’ voices.

“You bring cats into the lab and they freeze up,” says cognitive psychologist Jennifer Vonk.

Cats are more likely to be stressed by strangers and unfamiliar environments｜Pixabay

Saito believes that the social evolution of cats is still ongoing .

In 2019, she and her team found that cats respond when they hear their own names, regardless of whether the voice comes from the owner or a stranger - of course, cats respond more obviously when they hear the owner's call . This may be because cats have associated their own cat names with rewards (such as food and petting).

A study published in October this year also showed that cats can distinguish the voices of their owners from those of strangers. When the owners use two different tones - the tone of speaking to others and the tone of speaking to cats, cats will react more strongly to the recording of the latter .

What do you want me to do｜Pixabay

In recent years, as more and more people have started to keep cats, cats and humans have spent more and more time together (especially during the epidemic), and their relationship has become closer and closer. They may become better at understanding human voices or other cues . Of course, whether they will respond to people after understanding is another matter.

My dad said cats are bad, and my mom responded, "Cats don't need to be polite, they just need to show their beauty."

Although aloof cats often ignore people, they can also become attached to people, just like babies and puppies. In other words, we are not only cats' caregivers, but also life partners that cats look forward to, trust, and rely on.

Cats have become increasingly popular pets in recent years, not because people need cats to catch mice, but because they are companion animals that provide emotional support . And now, perhaps more and more people need such companionship.

People and cats need each other｜Pixabay

References

[1] Takagi, S., Saito, A., Arahori, M., Chijiiwa, H., Koyasu, H., Nagasawa, M., ... & Kuroshima, H. (2022). Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives. Scientific reports, 12(1), 1-9.

[2] Specktor, B. (2022). Cats can memorize their friends' names, new study suggests. Livescience. Retrieved from https://www.livescience.com/cats-remember-names

[3] ITO, Y., WATANABE, A., TAKAGI, S., ARAHORI, M., & SAITO, A. (2016). CATS BEG FOR FOOD FROM THE HUMAN WHO LOOKS AT AND CALLS TO THEM: ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND HUMANS'ATTENTIONAL STATES. Psychologia, 59(2-3), 112-120.

[4] de Mouzon, C., Gonthier, M., & Leboucher, G. (2022). Discrimination of cat-directed speech from human-directed speech in a population of indoor companion cats (Felis catus). Anim. Cogn., 1–9. doi: 10.1007/s10071-022-01674-w

[5] Cats react to 'baby talk'—but only from their owners. (2022, November 21). Retrieved from https://www.science.org/content/article/cats-react-baby-talk-only-their-owners#.Y1kGrzxWPSY.twitter

[6] Saito, A., & Shinozuka, K. (2013). Vocal recognition of owners by domestic cats (Felis catus). Anim. Cogn., 16(4), 685–690. doi: 10.1007/s10071-013-0620-4

[7] Cats know their names—why it's harder for them than dogs. (2019, April 05). Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/animals/2019/04/cats-know-their-names-why-its-harder-for-them-than-dogs

Author: Cloud

Editor: Mai Mai, Maiya Yang

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