Though cat parents often realize the higher intelligence of their cats, there are questions we can only ponder due to the language barrier between humans and felines. One of those mysteries is whether or not cats can visualize their parents when we aren’t standing right in front of them. Of course, we always want to believe our kitties remember our faces as we remember theirs. But until now, we had no measured way of knowing.
Thanks to a study by a joint research team comprised of Japanese scholars from Kyoto University and Sophia University, data suggests cats do indeed have the ability to ‘see’ us when we aren’t there. This discovery proves cats have more complex cognitive skills than previously thought. And one of those abilities is the power of imagination.
Inside the Mind’s Eye of a Feline
Dr. Saho Takagi of the University of Kyoto loves cats, and the power of feline ears inspired her most recent work.
“I saw a cat with only one of its ears tilted back, listening to the sound behind it, and felt that cats must be thinking about many things from the sound,” Dr. Takagi shared with CNN. “This time, I investigated whether they map their owner’s position spatially from sounds.”
Working with cats in their homes and at a cat café, Dr. Takagi and her fellow researchers first placed speakers throughout a room, ensuring they were out of feline sight. With the test cat in the room, they then played a recording of the parent’s voice saying the cat’s name from one speaker. Next, the parent’s voice was repeated from a speaker located in a spot totally opposite of the other.
A group of observers watched the various cats’ reactions to the recorded voices, ranking each feline’s surprise using cues like ear twitches and head movements. Observers found cats confused or surprised when their parents’ voices “teleported” from one place to another.
“This study shows that cats can mentally map their location based on their owner’s voice,” Dr. Takagi told The Guardian. “[It suggests] that cats have the ability to picture the invisible in their minds.”
Creative and Imaginative
Dr. Takagi’s research indicates cats “have a more profound mind than is thought.”
“This is an ability that is the basis of creativity and imagination.”
Cat parents already know their kitty dears to be imaginative and intelligent creatures with deep reasoning and thinking skills, so we aren’t surprised to learn cats can visualize what they can’t see.
Their very nature demands such ability, with biologist, author, and presenter of the BBC TV series Cats, Roger Tabor explaining, “That awareness of movement – tracking things they cannot see – is critical to a cat’s survival.”
So, the next time you see your cat staring off into space, try and visualize what your cat might be seeing in their mind’s eye!
H/T: www.theguardian.com