Discovered why cats always know what room we are in even if they don't see us

    How do our feline friends always know which room of the apartment we are in? Simple, they pay attention to our every step

    How do our feline friends always know which room of the apartment we are in? Simple, they pay attention to our every step (literally)





    Even if it seems to be on its own and not caring too much about what happens in the environment around it, the cat is very attentive to our every movement, and is able to perceive in which room of the house we are only hearing our noise and contextualizing it in a "mind map" of space. This is what has emerged from a new study conducted on felines, which have shown that they have what scientists call socio-spatial cognition: in practice, a state in which animals hold mental patterns of the position in space of the other members of the group, even if it is not possible to see them.

    It is not clear how this ability is so developed in cats - that's why, to try to understand a little more, a team of Japanese researchers from Kyoto University conducted a nice experiment involving some domestic cats. The animals were placed in a familiar room in the company of a Bluetooth repeater, while a second repeater was placed outside the room. Next, the researchers put into action some combinations of place and sound to test the socio-spatial abilities of the felines: for example, one of the repeaters transmitted a recording of the cat owner's voice, and a few seconds later the other repeater too. located elsewhere did the same. (Also Read: Can Cats See Optical Illusions?)

    The observed results showed that the cats were surprised to hear the human voice in an unexpected place, as if the owner had been "teleported" - explain the researchers. - Also interesting is the fact that the felines did not react in this way if sounds other than the owner's voice came from the repeaters. These results suggest that the cat has a mental representation of the owner's position, even if he does not see it, thus demonstrating that he has socio-spatial cognition.



    Discovered why cats always know what room we are in even if they don't see us

    @ PLOS One

    According to the researchers, it was not clear from the tests whether the cats were surprised by the presence of the owner in an unexpected place, or rather by his absence in the expected place - which is why further studies on the subject are already foreseen, which can better demonstrate the functioning. mental maps and spatial awareness of felines.

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    Source: PLOS One

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