Researchers in Japan say cats can recognize their own names, even if they aren’t enthusiastic about responding.
They looked at data from four experiments involving 77 cats. To see if a cat comprehended its name, they “tested the name against other similar-sounding nouns,” ScienceDaily reports.
“Researchers played recordings of their own voices and the cat’s owner’s voice saying five words: the first four words were the similar-sounding nouns and the final, fifth word was the cat’s name,” according to the report.
Cats that ignored the other nouns but moved their heads or ears when they heard their name were deemed to recognize their name.
But even if they didn’t respond, it’s possible they still understood, said Atsuko Saito, first author of the research paper. After all, cats are not as social as dogs and some other animals.
“Their lack of response may be caused by their low motivation level to interact with humans, or their feelings at the time of the experiment,” Saito said.
The researchers wrote: “These cats discriminated their own names from general nouns even when unfamiliar persons uttered them. These results indicate that cats are able to discriminate their own names from other words.”
The research was published in Scientific Reports.
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