Cats Know Their Names!
Written by Sam Leyva
Edited by Khushi Shah
September 27th, 2023
Edited by Khushi Shah
September 27th, 2023
Research
If you’re a cat person, it’s no secret that a cat café – a café that houses plenty of cats for customers to hang out with – is heaven on earth. If you’re a researcher, a cat café is a perfect place to do some research on cat behavior. These kitties are the perfect subjects to test if cats can differentiate their names from other words! During a particular study, four different experiments were performed to test a cat’s ability to hear phonetic differences in words to thus recognize their own name.
In the first experiment, researchers used four regular words and a fifth word – the cat’s name. The four words were repeated to the cats in order to gain familiarity, and then the cat’s name was given to see if it would elicit a different response. This was done in households with just one cat, or with cats living with very few other cats in order to limit bias in the validity of the research. The second experiment tested if a cat knew their name from other surrounding cats’ names, so this was done in an environment with lots of cats – a cat café, or a household with numerous cats.
The third experiment used four words and the name, like the first experiment, but moved to an environment with lots of cats. All of these experiments were done with people who were familiar with the cats - owners and the like. Thus, the last experiment was done with four words and the name said by an unfamiliar voice to test if cats really understood their name’s sound.
Overall, the cats in the cat café recognized their names less often than those in a household. The cats in the cat café couldn’t differentiate their own names from the names of other cats surrounding them in the second experiment. In the first experiment, household kitties performed behavior (ear movement, vocalization, tail movement, etc.) in response to their own name compared to other words and names, indicating recognition of their names! In addition, the cats did tell the difference between their owner’s voice compared to another person’s. The third and fourth experiments yielded similar results – cats behaved differently when listening to their name compared to other nouns.
It seems as if cats can tell when a specific word means something else besides just a random word, but it depends on the kitty’s environment and exposure to other cats and people. Cat behavior has not been studied as much as dog behavior, and this study is of significant importance to the furthering of cat behavioral knowledge. Cats were domesticated long after dogs, but who’s to say that they shouldn’t be man’s best friend too?
Reference:
Saito, A., Shinozuka, K., Ito, Y., & Hasegawa, T. (2019). Domestic cats (Felis catus) discriminate their names from other words. Scientific reports, 9(1), 5394. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-40616-4
Image Source: “Free vector pet sitter composition with living room scenery wall with window and cats with sitting human” by macrovector licensed under Freepik.com