<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/your-cat-knows-where-you-are-even-when-they-cant-see-you-180979059/>

New research suggests your cat is likely using sounds to keep track of where you are, even when you’re out of sight. Domestic cats create “mental maps”
that track where their owner is located based on the direction of certain sounds, an ability that was previously unknown in felines, according to new research published this week in the journal PLOS One.

Study author Saho Takagi, a doctoral student at Kyoto University, says she
has
long been interested in cats' hearing and their ability to move their ears in different directions.

"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," Takagi says in an email to CNN’s Sherry Liang. "This time, I investigated whether
they map their owner's position spatially from sounds."

The team conducted a series of experiments to find out if cats actively track their owners using cues like sound. They played recordings of human voices calling a cat’s name from different locations, in what they called “teleportation-like scenarios.” For example, a nearby speaker would announce
“Fluffy!”, suggesting to the kitty that the owner was close, and then a speaker
in a different room would call the same name again. The felines appeared surprised by the voice coming from an unexpected location, suggesting that domesticated cats spatially map their human companions using audio cues,
even when they’re in the next room, reports Hannah Osborne for Newsweek.

"These results suggest that cats hold a mental representation of the unseen owner and map their owner's location from the owner's voice, showing
evidence of socio-spatial cognition,” the researchers write in the paper. Earlier
studies have shown that cats can tell familiar and unfamiliar human voices apart, and locate hidden objects. Therefore, "it seems plausible that cats should
be able to mentally map others' locations based on vocalizations,” they explain.
...

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On 11/15/2021 11:44 PM, Tigger wrote:

<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/your-cat-knows-where-you-are-even-when-they-cant-see-you-180979059/>

New research suggests your cat is likely using sounds to keep track of
where
you are, even when you’re out of sight. Domestic cats create “mental maps”
that track where their owner is located based on the direction of certain sounds, an ability that was previously unknown in felines, according to new research published this week in the journal PLOS One.

Study author Saho Takagi, a doctoral student at Kyoto University, says
she has
long been interested in cats' hearing and their ability to move their
ears in
different directions.

"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," Takagi says in an email to CNN’s Sherry Liang. "This time, I
investigated whether
they map their owner's position spatially from sounds."

The team conducted a series of experiments to find out if cats actively
track
their owners using cues like sound. They played recordings of human voices calling a cat’s name from different locations, in what they called “teleportation-like scenarios.” For example, a nearby speaker would announce
“Fluffy!”, suggesting to the kitty that the owner was close, and then a speaker
in a different room would call the same name again. The felines appeared surprised by the voice coming from an unexpected location, suggesting that domesticated cats spatially map their human companions using audio cues,
even when they’re in the next room, reports Hannah Osborne for Newsweek.

"These results suggest that cats hold a mental representation of the unseen owner and map their owner's location from the owner's voice, showing
evidence of socio-spatial cognition,” the researchers write in the
paper. Earlier
studies have shown that cats can tell familiar and unfamiliar human voices apart, and locate hidden objects. Therefore, "it seems plausible that
cats should
be able to mentally map others' locations based on vocalizations,” they explain.
...

Very cool! Not totally surprising. :)

Jill

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jmcquown wrote:

On 11/15/2021 11:44 PM, Tigger wrote:

<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/your-cat-knows-where-you-are-even-when-they-cant-see-you-180979059/>


New research suggests your cat is likely using sounds to keep track of
where
you are, even when you’re out of sight. Domestic cats create “mental maps”

Very cool!  Not totally surprising. :)

I propose a followup study, with a huge grant, to demonstrate the same
effect using the
sound of a pop top on a can of wet food...

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On 11/24/2021 1:25 AM, Tigger wrote:

jmcquown wrote:

On 11/15/2021 11:44 PM, Tigger wrote:

<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/your-cat-knows-where-you-are-even-when-they-cant-see-you-180979059/>


New research suggests your cat is likely using sounds to keep track
of where
you are, even when you’re out of sight. Domestic cats create “mental >>> maps”

Very cool!  Not totally surprising. :)

I propose a followup study, with a huge grant, to demonstrate the same
effect using the
sound of a pop top on a can of wet food...

I second that proposal! :)

Jill

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)

In article <snklso$uig$1@news.mixmin.net>, Tigger
<invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:

jmcquown wrote:

On 11/15/2021 11:44 PM, Tigger wrote:

<https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/your-cat-knows-where-you-ar
e-even-when-they-cant-see-you-180979059/>


New research suggests your cat is likely using sounds to keep track
of where you are, even when you're out of sight. Domestic cats
create "mental maps"

Very cool! Not totally surprising. :)

I propose a followup study, with a huge grant, to demonstrate the same
effect using the sound of a pop top on a can of wet food...

I second that!

Judith

--
Judith Latham
Stourbridge, West Midlands. UK.

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